Dante's Johto Adventure
by Reaver72
Summary: A ongoing series of Dante's adventures throughout the Johto region. Somewhat follows the plot of HGSS, albeit with a few extras and changes
1. Prologue: Prelude to the Journey

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or anything besides my OC's**_

Prologue: Prelude to the Journey

_Flashback_

"Well kids, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Mrs. Andrews asked her 2nd grade class.

"I wanna be a firefighter!"

"I want to be an astronaut!"

"I want to be a doctor!"

"Those all sound very nice children. Dante, you never said what you wanted to be. Don't you have anything you would like to be when you grow up?" Mrs. Andrews asked her quietest student.

The student in question turned his attention from a Pidgey singing in a tree outside to the teacher. He was a little taller than average for his age and a bit skinny too. He twirled some of his dark black hair around his finger as he nervously said, "Well, I think I want to be a Pokémon trainer when I get older."

"No way!" A student in the back exclaimed. "Everyone knows no good trainer has ever come out of New Bark Town." The rest of the students shook their heads in agreement; appalled that Dante would even think that. (Although no astronauts had ever come out of New Bark either.)

"Now, now class, I'm sure Dante can be whatever he sets his mind to, no matter how tough it is." Mrs. Andrews chided, although not really sounding like she meant it. "Now let's get started on some math."

The class groaned and got out their workbooks and began the working on the problems. As they started working, a little black-haired girl sitting next to Dante leaned over and whispered, "I think you can be a trainer Dante, don't let them bother you."

"You really think so Rain?" Dante whispered back, looking really bothered by his classmates' dismissal of his dream.

"Of course I do. I want to run a Pokémon daycare some day, just like my grandma and grandpa. But I figure I'll have to learn how to take care of Pokémon first so that means I'll have to be a trainer for awhile."

"Well let's make a promise then, if you don't give up on being a trainer than I won't either."

Rain gave a thumbs up and a wink as she replied "Ok, you've got a deal."

….

_6 years later_

"But mom, once I'm fourteen I finally can register as a Pokémon trainer and start my journey." Dante, now just turned thirteen, whined to his mother.

"I just think it's too dangerous for you to start out that early honey, you've seen all the stories about the young trainers who get hurt because they left too soon." His mother explained for about the hundredth time.

"But Jacen's a trainer and he does ok." Dante countered back.

"Your cousin Jacen is eighteen now, and he didn't start out until two years ago." His mother shot back, knowing all the arguments like the back of her hand by now.

Couldn't you just talk Professor Elm into giving me a Pokémon, even if I have to wait to leave for my journey?"

"You know the Professor doesn't have any Pokémon to spare dear, besides, I'm not too sure if fourteen still isn't too young for a Pokémon."

"But Rain's going to get one for her birthday, I just know it!"

"Well I'm not Rain's mother I'm yours, and I think it's too early." His mother countered.

"I wish I had Rain's parents…" Dante mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" His mother asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Um, I asked if you had payed the rent?" Dante replied, thankful his mother hadn't heard him the first time.

"Honey we own our house, we don't have to pay rent."

"Oh well that's good then. I'm going to go outside and play. See ya later Mom!" Dante called out as hastily retreated outside before he got his mother angry.

"Ok honey, be home in time for dinner!" His mother yelled as he ran out the door. "_I just worry so much about that boy,_" she thought to herself, "_I hope he doesn't try to catch a Pokémon on his own, surely he knows how dangerous that would be_."

….

_Just outside_

"_I am so going to catch my own Pokémon." _Dante thought as he headed towards the woods. "_If mom won't let me have one I'll get one myself_."

He then spent the next couple months in the forest between New Bark Town and Cherrygrove City trying to use a net to catch any Pokémon he could find. Unfortunately the only Pokémon in the forest were Pidgey, Rattata, and Hoothoot, all of which were much too fast to be caught with a net. That all changed however, when one day he encountered a new Pokémon.

"Wow, that's a Weedle! He must have come over from the forest past Cherrygrove." Dante remarked to himself. "I bet I can catch this one with my net easy!"

He crept up quiet as a mouse, with months of practice having made him very good at moving quietly in the woods. But just as he drew near the little yellow caterpillar, he lost concentration and stepped on a leaf. The resulting crunch from the step alerted the little bug to his presence and it quickly tensed up and turned around. Dante froze, not wanting to scare it away. The Weedle stared back and made a little hissing sound, not happy at all with Dante's presence. Dante decided to make a move, and lunged forward with his net. The little Pokémon was ready though, and used its string shot attack to trip Dante up. Dante jumped to his feet and tried again, but this time the little Pokémon rolled sideways and quickly stabbed Dante with its stinger. Then before Dante could react, it used the string shot again to encase Dante's feet, before it hastily retreated.

Dante tried to get up, but found he couldn't with his legs bound. After struggling for a few minutes, he was soon overwhelmed by a wave of nausea and dizziness.

"Shit," he thought to himself, "I must have been poisoned when it stung me." He immediately began yelling for help until his voice cracked and he neared unconsciousness. Just before he passed out, he managed to make out through his blurry vision a figure running towards him. He thought he heard them shout his name before the darkness claimed him and he saw no more.

…..

Dante woke up, and immediately notice two things. One, he had a pounding headache and wanted to throw up badly. Also, he was lying comfortably in his bed back at home. He realized in relief that someone must have found him and gotten him help, and that Weedle poison must not be fatal. Just as he started to try and figure out what had happened, his mother and Professor Elm walked into the room.

"Oh thank goodness you're awake!" His mother cried as she ran up and hugged him with all of her might. "I was so worried you wouldn't be ok!"

"Yes, you're very lucky it was only a Weedle that stung you," Professor Elm explained, "If it would have been a Beedril you might not have made it."

"Ya I guess I am pretty lucky." Dante said as rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "Was it you that found me Professor?"

"No, that would have been me kid." A voice from someone he hadn't notice come in replied. It was a young man with long blonde hair and piercing green eyes. His worn out travelling clothes suggested that the man was no stranger to wandering through the wilds and had suffered some hardship in his journeys. Dante's face broke into a grin with recognition.

"Jacen! It was you that found me?"

"Yup, lucky for you I was passing through on my way to visit you guys or you might not have been found for a long time." Jacen was broke out in a grin similar to Dante's, before suddenly turning much more serious. "Just what in the hell were you thinking anyway? Did you really think you were going to catch a Pokémon with a net? What were you going to do with it if you did catch it?"

"Well I figured I could bring it back home and tame it I guess." Dante sheepishly replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess that doesn't work then?"

"No, it sure doesn't kid." Jacen said shaking his head. "Although I guess I do have to applaud you on your effort."

"That still doesn't excuse his actions!" His mother cut in. "He could have been killed!"

"I just wanted a Pokémon of my own. Is that too much to ask?" Dante dejectedly asked.

"You should have just waited kid," Jacen answered. "You'll have your own Pokémon soon enough."

"We can discuss this later." The professor interrupted. "That poison hasn't run its course yet and Dante needs to get back to sleep."

"Of course, you're right Professor." Dante's mother responded. "Get some sleep dear, I'll be sure to tell Rain you're feeling better. She's been by several times now checking on you."

"Ok." Dante said with a yawn. "Sorry I worried you guys so much."

"Just don't do it again honey. I'm just glad you're ok."

"Alright kid get to sleep, we'll all still be here when you wake up." Jacen said as he shut the door.

Once the three made it downstairs they sat down at the kitchen table. Dante's mother quickly went to the stove and made up a pot of coffee for them, as it was very late and they had been up for quite some time.

"I just don't know what to do with that boy." His mother said with a sigh. "I swear he gets wilder and more reckless everyday."

"There's nothing wrong with him." Jacen dismissed with a wave of his hand. "He's just caught the adventuring bug a little earlier than most. Are you going to let him start travelling when he turns fourteen?"

"No I don't think so Jacen." She nervously replied. "I just think it's too dangerous to go out completely on your own at that age."

"I think so too." Jacen unexpectedly agreed. "I didn't leave till I was sixteen and looking back now that still was a little early. But his urge for a Pokémon isn't going to go away, and he'll be right back there within a year or two."

"I think Jacen's right." Professor Elm agreed. "He's just too determined to ever fully give up on that dream."

"What if I got him a Pokémon for his birthday?" His mother asked. "And then just made sure he doesn't leave until he turns seventeen?"

"That's not a bad idea actually." Jacen considered. "Then he can learn how to raise a Pokémon gradually instead of on the fly while on the road. I can even get a Pokémon for him if you want."

"Could you Jacen? That would be great if you could."

"Ya, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. It will have to be something small and easy to control. But it also can't be too boring and decent at battling. I'll keep an eye out for the next few months and see what I find."

"Wonderful! This way he'll have some protection when he goes off exploring the forest and I won't have to worry as much."

…

The months dragged on and Dante quickly recovered. Unfortunately for him though, his classmates decided to really make fun of him for his accident, saying that if he couldn't handle a Weedle there was no way he could look after any decent Pokémon. Rain was his only friend throughout the ordeal, and he got into more than a few fistfights over it. Then Rain's birthday came around and her grandparents gave her a Marill, which she promptly named Lucy. This only made Dante more jealous, although it did have the benefit of his bullies getting sprayed with a water gun when they got too mean. Soon Dante's birthday came, and his mother, Jacen, and Rain were all sitting around to watch him opening presents.

"Wonder what this one is?" Dante said as he shook the box around. "I bet it's one of those new pokegears!"

"I wouldn't count on it dear." His mother replied. "Those are way too expensive to get a fourteen-year old boy who would break it within a week."

"Well I guess we'll find out now then." Dante quickly tore through the wrapping and open the box. "Oh my god!"

"What is Dante?" Rain asked curiously.

"Look!" Dante cried out, and showed her the contents of the box.

"Oh my god!" Rain shrieked out in shock. Nestled inside the box was a little Pokéball on a stand.

"Now there's a few conditions with this kid." Jacen quickly jumped in. "For one you have to treat it with all the respect it deserves. Also, you have to agree not to leave on your journey until your seventeenth birthday. Finally, you have to agree not to go past Cherrygrove without permission, and not out later than dinnertime."

"Deal!" Dante quickly agreed. Just getting a Pokémon was beyond any of his expectations. "Can I get it out now?" 

"Knock yourself out honey." His mom quickly agreed. "I'm rather excited to see it myself."

Dante didn't need to be told twice, and immediately pressed the expand button on the Pokéball and threw it on the floor. A bright light shot out from the ball, and soon solidified into a small brown shape. The small foxlike Pokémon looked around in curiosity at its new location.

"Wow it's an Eevee!" Dante shouted out in pure joy.

"Those are really rare." Raven stated in awe. "Where on earth did you get it Jacen?"

"A friend of mine found it and wanted me to take care of it." Jacen said with a smile and a shrug. "I don't currently have time for a new Pokémon, but I knew the perfect person who did."

"Thank you so much!" Dante said as he gave Jacen a huge hug. He then turned to the Eevee and started petting it behind the ears. "Well bud how about it? Do you want to be my first partner?" The Eevee replied happily by letting out a little bark and nodding its head. "Well I guess that's that then!" Dante said as he rolled around on the floor with his new friend.

….

Dante sat down with a sigh at the table. It had been three weeks and he still hadn't thought of a name for his new partner. The Eevee sat down next to him, not having gone back into its Pokéball yet.

"Hey honey, why the long face?" His mother asked in concern.

"I can't think of a name for Eevee yet mom." Dante replied dejectedly. "It hasn't liked any name I've come up with yet."

"I'm sure you'll find out a name for your little shadow before you know it." His mother said cheerfully.

"Ya I guess-Wait, what did you say?"

"I said I'm sure you'll find a name for your little shadow soon. I called him that because you never go anywhere without him by your side now."

"Hmm, Shadow." Dante mused. "How about it boy, do you like that name?"

Eevee considered it for a minute and then let out a little bark of agreement.

"Alright!" Dante cheered. "Thanks mom, you're the best!"

"No problem I guess." His mom responded with a grin. "Although I can't say I did it on purpose."

Dante just gave Shadow a hug and laughed, envisioning all of the fun he and Shadow would have in the next three years before his journey began.

….

**Author's Note: Well here's the first story I've ever written. You may have read this chapter before and it looked much different. The story behind that is that when I first wrote the Prologue, it was meant to just be a summary to get some of the background info in. But then I checked the traffic stats, and I noticed that I lost well over half my readers before they even made it that far. So I thought about and realized that since that first chapter was so bad most people just left a few lines in. So here's a fixed version with all the same info, and about 2000 or so extra words.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins

**Review Responses: Every new chapter I will use this spot to personally respond to the reviews. I feel that if you take the time out of your day to review, I should have the courtesy to personally respond.**

**To KeepOnMoovingUp94: Thanks for being my first review! I'm glad you enjoyed it so far! Hopefully you continue to enjoy it**

Chapter One: The Adventure Begins

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own Pokémon **

….

Splash!

Dante shot out of bed with a jolt, looking for the source of his discomfort. After a quick scan of his room he quickly found it.

His best friend Rain was grinning at him, and happened to be standing by her pet Marill, which went a long way towards explaining why Dante was now soaked to the skin. Evidently it had been her idea of a funny wake-up call.

"Why in Arceus' name did you do that?" Dante asked angrily.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Rain said with a shrug and a smile.

"And you didn't think just yelling my name would work well enough?" Dante inquired with a scowl.

"Well it probably would have but it wouldn't have been nearly as fun for me or Lucy." Rain replied halfheartedly. "Besides, at least I woke up Shadow and let him get out of the way first."

Dante did another quick scan around the room and noticed his pet Eevee Shadow looking at him. The little fox had an amused look on its face, immensely enjoying the prank on his trainer.

"Some guard Pokémon you are." Dante scolded. "Didn't mom and Jacen get you to protect me?"

Shadow gave a noncommittal jerk of its shoulders, as if to say it couldn't be bothered to deal with such a weak threat. Which was true to a degree, Lucy had never managed to beat Shadow in any of their mock battles. Not to say that Rain never tried-it was an unending source of frustration for her that her Marill couldn't do any more than to slightly annoy Shadow in a battle.

"Why exactly did you have to wake me up anyway?" Dante asked, genuinely curious for the answer. Rain's pranks were nothing new to him at this point, and his anger was mostly dissipated.

"Professor Elm needs someone to run an errand for him." She replied nonchalantly. "I would have done it myself, but the professor didn't think Lucy was strong enough to stand up to all the wild Pokémon on the way."

Dante let out a groan. "So I suppose that means me and Shadow were nominated then?" Dante asked with annoyance. It wasn't that he didn't like the odd professor, but it did get rather annoying when being the only somewhat competent trainer in town meant that you had to do every difficult job that came up.

"Never mind, I'll just get going then. Hopefully it won't be too difficult." Dante said, cutting off his own question.

"That's the spirit!" Rain happily exclaimed. "At least you only have a couple more days to worry about this before you start your journey!"

"Oh ya, that's right, I almost forgot about that!" Dante enthusiastically replied, the last remains of his bad mood instantly vanishing. "It'll be good for everyone to learn how to do things on their own without me and Shadow around to help."

"Oh get over yourself." Rain said, making a great show of rolling her eyes.

"Well it's true!" Dante shot back as they headed down the stairs.

The pair's loud arguing down the stairs easily caught the attention of the brown haired woman at the stove cooking breakfast.

"Rain, I thought I told you not to spray him with a Water Gun to wake him up." Dante's mom sighed with great exasperation.

"Oops, sorry Ma'am, it was just too tempting to pass up." Rain actually looked apologetic about this, having forgotten that Dante's mother would have to clean up the mess afterwards.

"It's no problem dear. Do make sure you find a less messy way to wake Dante up next time though."

"Will do Ma'am. I'll just have to be a little more creative from now on."

"As much as I'm enjoying this conversation about my future wake-up calls, I do really need to get going." Dante cut in, not wanting to hear any more. "Mom, Professor Elm needs me to run an errand, I'll try to be home in time for supper." 

"Ok dear, be careful if you have to go in the forest, you know how much I worry about you and Shadow." Dante's mother warned worriedly.

"I always am mom, you know that." Dante said with a smile and a shrug, his trips into the forest having long since lost any sense of danger to him.

"Oh while you're gone, you may as well have this in case you have any trouble." His mother said as she grabbed a box hidden in a nearby cabinet. "It's a new Pokegear, it can serve as a radio and a way to contact me if anything goes wrong. I was going to wait until you left to give it to you, but I would feel much better if you had it with you now."

"Wow thanks mom! This is great!" Dante exclaimed in excitement. "I've been wanting one of these for a long time. See you later!"

"You're welcome son!" His mother called after him as he ran out the door. "Well, at least I already programmed my number into it."

"Good thing you did, otherwise it never would have crossed his mind to register it with the mood he was in." Rain replied while trying to cover her laughter at her easily excited friend.

…

Dante and Shadow arrived at Professor Elm's lab shortly after, not even bothering to knock on the door as they entered.

"Dante! How are you my boy? The middle-aged researcher asked as he noticed Dante walk in.

"I'm doing pretty well. I hear you have an errand for me?" Dante replied, skipping over the usual pleasantries to get right to the point.

"Well yes I do in fact; I hope Rain wasn't too rough waking you up. I made sure to tell her to wait for you to wake up on your own." Elm replied, instantly getting a general idea of what had happened from the state of Dante's soaked clothing.

"It was nothing I'm not used to."

"I'm sure it's not." Elm said, clearly struggling to suppress a chuckle. "The errand is actually not that difficult. I just need you to go pick up something from my friend Mr. Pokémon north of Cherrygrove City. He claims he has some new exciting discovery, and I just don't have the time to go myself."

"Ok, that doesn't sound too bad. You up for it Shadow?" Dante asked his companion, not wanting to agree to anything without his partner's consent.

Shadow let out a short bark in the affirmative, sounding pleased with the opportunity to get out of town for the day.

"That settles it then, we're in sir. Can I get your number for my new pokegear in case something goes wrong?" Dante asked, mostly out of desire to have directions at the ready if he had any problems.

"Good thinking my boy, here's my number!" The Professor happily entered Dante's number in his phone. It later occurred to Dante that the reason for Elm's excitement to register his number may very well have stemmed from the fact that it was the only number in the phone aside from Mr. Pokémon's and Elm's own wife.

"I don't suppose I could get a box of Mrs. Elm's cookies for this by any chance?" Dante questioned, having been paid in the delicious cookies on numerous occasions.

"Oh I actually have something much better in mind," the professor replied with a wink, "but I'll save the surprise for when you get back."

"Ok, see you later then Professor!" Dante and Shadow both quickly ran out of the lab, the thought of a reward even better than Mrs. Elm's famous cookies enticing them onward. Neither of them even noticed the teenager with long red hair watching them through the back window of the lab.

…..

The journey to Mr. Pokémon's house was rather uneventful, besides from a rather creepy old man giving them a tour of the town and buying them a new pair of running shoes as a present for humoring him. At first Dante had been a little skeptical, but the shoes _were_ rather nice, and it's wasn't as if the old man was going to wear them anyway.

Dante tested out the new shoes by sprinting the remaining distance between the town and Mr. Pokémon's house, with Shadow expertly taking down any annoying Weedle and Sentret along the way. Another creepy guy tried getting them to stop and talk with him, but Dante's patience had run out by this point and he already knew all about Apricots.

Soon, Dante reached a house that he assumed was Mr. Pokémon's, the old man from earlier having told him that no one else lived this far out of town. Dante and Shadow walked up to the front door, and were promptly let in before even managing to knock on the door. The pair got in a quick glance at the man who let them in. He appeared to be in his late 30's, and was dressed in a full suit, accented with a rather goofy looking top hat.

"Hello, you must be Dante!" The man exclaimed as he enthusiastically shook Dante's hand. "Professor Elm told me you would be coming!"

"Nice to meet you too sir," Dante replied with obvious discomfort, "but would mind letting go of my hand now? You're squeezing it pretty hard there."

"Oh, sorry young man." The man quickly let go of Dante's hand, looking a little embarrassed by his excited display. "I hope your trip went well?"

"As well as could be expected. We had a bit of trouble with some Weedle and Sentret but they were nothing Shadow here couldn't handle." Dante said with a note of pride.

"That is a very impressive Eevee you have there." Said a voice from the other end of the room. "How long have you had him for?"

Dante looked over at the previously unnoticed speaker, an older man who appeared to be in his early sixties. "Almost three years now, I'm not really allowed to do any serious battling with him yet though. At least, not until I start my Pokémon journey. Do I know you from somewhere? Dante looked the old man over again. He noticed that while the man was definitely up there in years, he seemed to give off an almost youthful aura, as if he was nothing more than an excited kid at heart.

"Perhaps," the old man replied, "I don't suppose you've heard the name Professor Oak before have you?"

Dante's eyes flashed with recognition, and he suddenly realized where he had seen the man before. Professor Oak's lectures were often discussed in class and he had even seen a picture of him once in Professor Elm's lab, albeit with him looking a few years younger. Dante was speechless for a moment, finally realizing that he was in the presence of one of the greatest minds in the Pokémon world.

"Oh, I'm-m so-so-sorry Pr-professor." Dante stuttered, experiencing a rare moment of shyness, not often being intimidated by celebrities. "I didn't recognize you at first, none of your lectures came with a picture."

"Don't be shy young man," the professor kindly admonished. "I'm nothing more than an old man who happens to have a deep love of Pokémon. Do you mind if I examine your Eevee here? Shadow if I heard right earlier?"

"Yes, yes of course," Dante replied, still in shock at the fact that _the_ Professor Oak was right here outside of Cherrygrove, "Shadow, say hello to the professor."

Shadow gave a bark of greeting, and cautiously allowed the old man to pet him. All of his initial unease soon passed however, as the professor began scratching the fox's favorite spot.

"Yes this is a fine Eevee indeed, I wonder…." The Professor trailed off for a second, apparently deep in thought. "I heard you say you were leaving on your journey soon?" Oak finally asked, having seemed to come to some sort of decision."

"Yes I am sir, in two days from now actually."

"I don't suppose you could do me a favor while you're out and about?" The Professor inquired. "It won't be much trouble, in fact, it would actually help you more than me."

"It would be an honor to help you sir, what do you want me to do?" Dante asked, the thought of being able to help the famous Professor Oak filling him with anticipation.

"All I need you to do is use this Pokedex here," he said, pulling out a small red electronic device from his pocket, "to get some basic information on the Pokémon native to this region. It only takes about two seconds for the device to get a read. Here, I'll show you."

Oak pointed the device at Shadow and pressed the big button on top. After a second the little device made a beeping noise and said, "Eevee, the evolution Pokémon. This Pokémon can evolve into several different forms to adapt to many different environments."

"Cool!" Dante exclaimed. "I'll be happy to help!"

"Good!" Oak said with a smile. "I'll be sure to watch your career with great interest. But I'm afraid I can't stay any longer, I'm late as it is for my weekly radio show. I'm sure we will meet again." Oak handed Dante the pokedex and strode out of the house, humming a merry tune as he went.

"Wow, the professor must have seen something really promising in you to give you a Pokedex!" Mr. Pokémon exclaimed, breaking Dante out of his momentary daze. "But you still haven't got what you came here for!"

"Oh ya, I almost forgot about that with Professor Oak here!" Dante said, shocked that he had allowed himself to get so off-track, even for a surprise visit with the famous professor. "Well, what is it?"

"This!" Mr. Pokémon said, pulling out a gigantic egg. "A couple friends of mine found this egg and assured me it was special. I let Professor Oak look at it for awhile, but even he admitted there was none better than Elm to study it."

"Alright," Dante replied, slightly miffed he had come all this way for a regular old Pokémon egg, "but what Pokémon is it?"

"I'm not sure," Pokémon admitted with an embarrassed blush, "but I'm sure it's something really amazing!"

"If you say so." Dante replied doubtfully as he placed the egg in his pack. "If that's all then I'd better be out of here if I want to be home by dark." Dante nervously made his way out the door, slightly off-put by Mr. Pokémon's sureness of the egg's rarity.

"Thanks once again young man!" Mr. Pokémon called out cheerfully as Dante shut the door behind him. Dante said a quick prayer to Arceus that he wouldn't have to deal with this crazy man again. Little did he know that the least of his troubles had only just begun….

….

**Author's Notes: Ooh, a cliffhanger, I wonder what other troubles Dante has coming? Well if you played the games I'm sure you know the general idea of what comes next. If you hadn't noticed, while I base most of this story off the games, I do change some things around; namely the ages and names. My goal for this story is not to have just another generic retelling of HG and SS, so there will definitely be some big changes. Make sure to be really critical in the reviews, while I enjoy hearing that you liked the story, I would really love to hear some things I could improve on. Although if you don't it's fine, as long as I'm still getting hits I will never withhold updates for reviews.**


	3. Chapter 2: First Battle

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, at least not the last time I checked**

Chapter 2: First Battle

….

Dante stepped out of Mr. Pokémon's house pausing upon hearing a noise. _Ring! Ring_! Dante looked around in confusion, wondering what on earth was making that noise until he noticed his pokegear going off. After a few moments of trying to work his new handy piece of technology, he finally figured out which button to press.

"Hello?" Dante asked, curious as to who called him.

"Dante! It's terrible, just terrible! You have to come back to the lab quickly!" Professor Elm's voice hysterically echoed over the device.

"What's the matter professor? Is everything alright?" Dante worriedly asked, concerned over what could have the professor so worried.

"No, no, it's not Dante! Just hurry back please!" Elm cried out, breaking down unintelligibly at the end.

"Professor what's going on? I can't understand you!" Dante yelled in the gear's phone. But unfortunately Elm was at a point where he was beyond coherence, and Dante shut the phone off in frustration.

"Well Shadow, looks like we need to hurry back. You ready to run?" Dante asked his partner.

Shadow gave a little bark in the affirmative, not really sure what was going on but knowing something was wrong.

"Ok then, let's go!"

Dante and Shadow took off, trying to get back to the lab as quickly as possible. Luckily Shadow had already cleared out many of the wild Pokémon on their first trip, so they made significantly faster progress than the first time around. They made it back to Cherrygrove, skipping out on all the sights this time around, and made it to the outskirts of town, until….

"Hey you there! Stop!" A voice called from seemingly out of nowhere.

"Who's there?" Dante answered back, wondering what was going on now.

"None of your business weakling!" The owner of the voice snarled back. The speaker emerged from the bushes alongside the path. He looked to be around Dante's age and height, and had long, shoulder-length red hair. But the most striking part of his appearance was his eyes, they had a glaring look of contempt upon them. It was as if the boy had both experienced and dealt out much cruelty within his life.

"Well if you won't tell me your name what on earth do you want? I'm kind of in a hurry here." Dante snapped back, not liking the stranger's tone at all.

"I want a Pokémon battle to try out these new Pokémon I just got. And a weakling like you seems like the perfect person to test them on." The boy replied with a sneer.

"I don't have time this right now. If you want your battle so bad then just wait until tomorrow, I'll happily battle you then." Dante replied, irritated at the stranger. Dante turned around and walked away, until the other boy again ran in front of him, once again blocking the path.

"What are you, a coward? Take your beating like a man damnit!" The boy yelled out, completely enraged at this point.

"Fine." Dante sighed, seeing that the other boy was completely beyond reason. "If you won't get out of the way I'll just have to battle you then. You ready Shadow?" Shadow leapt between the two trainers, tensed in anticipation of its first serious battle.

"You think that weakling can take me down? I'll show you a real Pokémon!" The boy threw out a Pokéball. The ball let out a bright white light that slowly formed into a creature. The creature that came out of the ball resembled a large mouse, except with blue and tan fur. Dante pulled out his pokedex and quickly analyzed the Pokémon. The pokedex chirped out, "Cyndaquil, the fire mouse Pokémon. If attacked it curls up into a ball and releases smoke to escape."

"It looks a little timid to me dude, are you sure you want it to battle?" Dante asked, concerned over the Pokémon's welfare.

"Don't tell me how to raise my Pokémon! It will do as I say. And I say attack!"

The Cyndaquil looked back at the trainer, unsure of exactly what it should do.

Dante noticed this and realized he would have to start the battle.

"Shadow, start this off with tackle!" Shadow gave a little nod and ran off like a rocket towards the Cyndaquil, who let out a squeak and curled up into a ball just before Shadow rammed into it, knocking it into a nearby tree. The Cyndaquil uncurled itself; star's dancing in its eyes after the attack.

"What are you doing? Fight back you worthless Pokémon!" The trainer yelled at his Pokémon, enraged at its lack of aggression.

"It obviously doesn't want to battle, so I'm not just going to beat it up for no reason. Call out another Pokémon or I'm leaving." Dante called out to the other trainer, unhappy at the way the battle was going.

"You worthless Pokémon! Fine, if you don't want to battle I'll use someone else who does!" The other trainer yelled out. He swiftly gave the little Pokémon a kick and then recalled it.

"What the hell was that?" Dante yelled. "What kind of way is that to treat your Pokémon?" 

"Don't tell me how to raise my Pokémon! I'll show you real power here!" The other trainer screamed back, and threw out another Pokéball. A white light came out from the ball like before, but this time a small dinosaur-like Pokémon with a leaf on its head came out. Dante pulled out the pokedex again, with the device reading "Chikorita, the leaf Pokémon. It uses the leaf on its head to absorb sunlight."

"Ok let's see what you got, show me you're not totally useless and use Razor Leaf!"

"Dodge it and use Tackle again Shadow!"

The Chikorita let off a torrent of leaves from its body, which Shadow mostly dodged, although a few grazed him. The Chikorita slowed for a second, and Shadow used the opportunity to quickly charge into the grassy Pokémon, knocking it into dirt before it could fire anymore leaves off.

"Urgh, get up you lazy Pokémon, Tackle it right back!" The Chikorita shook its head clear and charged into Shadow, briefly knocking the wind out of him.

"Ok Shadow this calls for the big guns! Use that Takedown move we worked on!"

Shadow nodded as it got up and, without warning, charged into the Chikorita at a breakneck speed, recklessly crashing into the Chikorita. Shadow got up from the attack and shook itself off, but it obviously sustained some damage from the attack. The Chikorita however, was knocked out cold and obviously incapable of battling.

"Nice job Shadow!" Dante cheered out to his partner, happy the new move worked out so well. The duo had spent the previous month perfecting the new attack before their journey would begin.

"Fine then I'll show you! I still have one Pokémon left and it's not nearly as weak as the others!"

The other trainer recalled the leaf Pokémon and sent out another Pokémon. This time the white light cleared to reveal a blue crocodile like Pokémon standing on its hind legs. The pokedex chirped out "Totodile, the big jaw Pokémon. This Pokémon defends itself with its powerful jaws and can blast out water attacks at its opponents."

"Alright, prove your worth and use water gun!" The Totodile gave a wicked grin, and unleashed a blast of water from out of its mouth. Shadow was taken by surprise and couldn't get out of the way before the blast hit it, knocking it several feet back into the dirt.

"Shadow are you ok?" Dante asked in concern. Shadow weakly got up and gave weak nod, exhaustion showing clearly in the Pokémon's frame.

"Now while its weak, bite it and don't let go until it faints!" The Totodile gave another grin and bounded forward, and clamped its jaw down around Shadow's midsection. Shadow gave a howl of pain and tried to shake it off, only causing the water Pokémon to dig in deeper.

"Shadow no! Try to scratch him until it lets go!" Dante screamed out, scared for his Pokémon's safety.

"Keep holding on until the weakling's done, show no mercy!" The red-haired trainer called out with glee, victory finally in his grasp.

"No! Shadow!" Dante was out of his mind with worry now, and quickly moved to return Shadow before any permanent injury occurred. Before he could return him however, Shadow began to glow. It wasn't a bright glow however. Instead it was as dark as night, and pulsed out from Shadow, throwing the Totodile off of him and flying into a tree. The Totodile didn't move afterwards, obviously knocked out cold. Shadow gave a little grin, before he too collapsed in exhaustion.

"What the hell was that?" The other trainer yelled. "How on earth did your weak little Pokémon do that?

"I don't know but it was awesome!" Dante responded in shock, before running over to check on Shadow. He seemed alright, although the bite would need to be treated and he would probably need to rest awhile.

"Humph, whatever. Next time after I train these worthless Pokémon up I'll show you what a weakling you really are!" The red-haired boy turned and stormed off, obviously upset at his performance.

"Jerk." Dante shook his head and took Shadow into his arms. He then noticed a card the other trainer left behind. It was a trainer card, with the name on it reading "Zane R. Powers" but with little other information.

"Hey give that back!" Dante looked up right as the other trainer (apparently named Zane) snatched the card out of his hand. "Oh no, you saw my name. I got to get out of here" Horror showed across Zane's face for a moment, before he turned around and like his life depended on it.

"I wonder what the big deal about his name was?" Dante wondered to himself. "Oh no, I forgot about the professor! I wasted way too much time, I'd better hurry!" Dante took off as fast as he could towards the lab, which was slowed a little bit with Shadow in his arms.

….

Dante made it back to the lab and ran through the door right away, not bothering to knock. This turned out to be a mistake however, as he was immediately tackled the moment he entered.

"I knew you would come back wrong doer! The suspect always returns to the scene of the crime!" The policeman who had tackled Dante yelled.

"What the hell are you talking about and why are you tackling me?" Dante yelled back, as he tried to keep the officer off of Shadow.

"I'm stopping you thief! And what have you done to that Pokémon you stole, it looks hurt!"

"This is my Pokémon and I've never stolen anything in my life!"

"Officer that's not the thief I saw." A girl's voice said from across the lab. "The thief had red hair which Dante here obviously doesn't have. Besides, Dante's had that Eevee for years."

"Oh," the officer said, shame running across his face as Rain explained his mistake. "I'm sorry young man, I didn't realize you weren't the perp."

"Don't worry about it officer." Dante said as he dusted himself off. "Thanks for setting him straight Rain. Now what the heck is going on here?"

"Oh Dante, it's terrible." Professor Elm cried out from a fetal position on the floor. "Someone stole all three of my prized Pokémon after you left!"

"Oh no! Is there any clue who did it?" Dante exclaimed.

"Well I caught a glimpse of him as he ran away. He was about our height and had long red hair." Rain said, brushing her hair out of her face in irritation.

"Long red hair?" Dante said in alarm. "What Pokémon did he steal Professor?"

"A Totodile, Cyndaquil, and a Chikorita. Why, have you seen them?"

"Oh no," Dante whispered, horror showing across his face. "I just battled him on my way back here!"

"Really!" The officer asked, getting over his embarrassment at the earlier incident. "Did you happen to get his name?"

"Yes, I caught a glimpse of it off his trainer card. It's Zane Powers, unless that's a fake name." Dante said, thinking back to the accident.

"Well I can work with that! I'd better get going, if I hurry maybe we can still catch him!" The officer then hurried out of the lab.

"Strange guy." Dante remarked. "Are you ok Professor?"

"Not really. I was going to give you one of those Pokémon as a present for helping me today….. "What did Mr. Pokémon want anyway?" The Professor asked, having finally settled down a bit.

"This egg, he said something was special about it but I can't tell anything different than usual about it." Dante said as he handed over the egg.

"Well it certainly has some weird markings on it," Elm mused, "but I can't really tell anything unusual other than that. I guess we'll just see what it hatches into. Oh my I forgot, Shadow looks to be hurt!"

"Oh no, I forgot after that over-eager officer tackled me!" Dante cried out. "Can you help him out Professor?"

"Hmm, yes I he should be ok." Elm said as he looked over Shadow's injuries. "I'll just need to keep him for observation overnight."

"Thank goodness, I'm glad he's going to be ok. Professor, he used a strange attack in the battle. His body glowed with a darklight, and then a dark energy wave bursted out of him. Have you seen anything like that before?" 

"Hmm, it sounds like he used the move Hidden Power." Elm replied after a second of thought. "It's a powerful move that has a different type for each individual Pokémon. It sounds like Shadow's is a dark type move. Although most Pokémon need serious training to unlock it, I'm surprised Shadow was able."

"Well it really saved him back there so I'm glad it worked out. I think I'm going to hit the hay Professor; I've got to get ready for tomorrow. Do you think Shadow will be ready by then?"

"He should be, although you may want to take it easy on him for the first day or so. I'll see you tomorrow then. Oh and thanks again Dante, I really appreciate your help, even if it didn't work out so well."

"No problem professor, see ya later." Dante and Rain walked out of the lab. "Rain, you ok? You seem pretty deep in thought." Dante asked concerned.

"I'm worried about those Pokémon Dante. That guy sounds like a real jerk." Rain replied "Do you think they'll be ok?"

"I don't know," Dante said with a sigh, "I just hope the police catch him or that I run into him again on my journey."

"I hope so. Goodnight Dante, good luck on your journey tomorrow."

"Aren't you going to see me before I leave?" Dante asked in surprise. He couldn't believe his best friend wasn't going to see him off.

"Oh yes-of course," Rain corrected herself hurriedly. "Just thought I'd say it now."

"Oh ok then, good night then."

Rain waited until Dante walked back into his house, and then turned around and headed for the path out of town. "Don't worry little Pokémon," Rain said to herself, "I'll make sure to get you away from that jerk."

…

Authors Note: Well it looks like Rain has some vigilante plans going on. I planned it like this because in the game Kris just kind of ran off with no explanation. Since Rain is based off of her I though it made sense to give her a reason to run off. Oh, and I gave the rival a different name from Silver just because I'm not naming anyone with colors. Look out for next chapter to go way different from the game though. And a character previously mentioned but not shown makes his first actual appearance. Until next time!


	4. Chapter 3: An Unexpected Diversion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon and most likely never will**

Chapter Three: An Unexpected Diversion

Dante awoke the next morning to a terrifying roar from what sounded like right outside his house. He immediately jumped to his feet and, from years of practice sneaking out at night, opened his window and slid down the water drain. Greeting him at the bottom was a gargantuan blue dragon with red wings. The dragon gave Dante a glare that made his blood run cold, until he noticed the figure on the back. The man was tall, with blonde hair down to his shoulders, and wearing a cocky grin from ear to ear.

"Jacen!" Dante yelled out in joy. "What the hell are you trying to do, wake up the whole town?"

"No, mostly just you." Jacen responded with a shrug. "Although I guess you could call waking the rest of the town a bonus." Sure enough, several residents were already outside and glaring at the obnoxiously loud visitor.

"Well, I guess they'll have to get over it." Dante replied as he nervously scratched the back of his head. "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here? And where did you get that sweet Pokémon? It's huge!"

"I'll get to why I'm here in a bit, but to answer your second question I got my buddy Fang here from Hoenn, which is pretty much the only place you can get a Salamence like him." Fang let out a snort at this, sending a blast of fire from his nostrils. "But enough about that, let's grab some breakfast, I know your mom probably has some ready."

"Alright, sounds good to me." Jacen recalled the gargantuan dragon and the remaining two walked into the house. Dante's mother had evidently been forewarned about the wakeup call, as she didn't seem bothered at all by the events outside. This immediately caused Dante some suspicion; as it seemed a little unlikely Jacen would just happen to show up on the day he left for his journey, and then talk with his mother about it beforehand. No, they definitely had something planned. Not that those plans ever turned out bad though. Shadow was an example of one after all. Dante just didn't like people going behind his back deciding _his_ future and plans.

"So, what do you two have planned this time?" Dante finally asked, not willing to wait for them to get around to it.

"Whatever do you mean honey?" His mother asked with surprise.

"Don't bother acting Aunt Liz." Jacen replied with resignation. "Dante has evidently gotten pretty good at reading us these last few years. He's smart enough to tell we thought this up ahead of time. What we were planning Dante, was for you to spend the first couple of days with me on the road. Basically, to let me show you the ropes."

"Please do it Dante." His mother begged. "I would feel much better if you spent the first couple of days with Jacen." 

"Not that I'm against hanging out with you Jacen," Dante began, "but I kind of wanted to start out on my own you know?"

"Aunt Liz, can I talk to Dante alone for a minute?"

"Sure Jacen. Dante, I just want you to be safe honey."

"I know what you're feeling Dante," Jacen said as Liz left the room, "in fact, I would be a little worried if you didn't want to start out right on your own. But, I'm offering a compromise. You go with me for the first day or two, and I'll show you a place or two find some rarer Pokémon most starting trainers don't find for a while. Then I'll drop you off right in Violet City, which is where you would be by then anyway. How does that sound?"

Dante took a few seconds to think, and then finally replied, "While I still don't like it, there's nothing that's too bad about that. But this is the last time you guys are going to hold me back. I know you have my best interest at heart, but from here on out I'm going to go my own way and take whatever risks I want. No more holding my hand after this."

Jacen looked shocked and a bit hurt at first, but slowly a smile spread across his face. "You know I'm just looking out for you kid. You're like a little brother to me after all. But you've got the trainer spirit, and you're right, we shouldn't stifle you anymore. You have my word then, after this, no more handholding. But I'll always be around if you need help." 

"I know." Dante said with a relieved look. "And I really appreciate it, I do think of you as my older brother you know. But I need to strike out on my own, find out if I have what it takes to stand on my own."

"I know the feeling kid, and don't worry; you're going to be just fine. You got a good head on your shoulders, even if you are a bit stubborn and reckless at times. But enough of this feeling crap, let's say goodbye to your mom and hit the road!"

"All right!" Dante shouted out. "MOM! We're leaving!"

"Ok dear." His mother said, slowly coming in from up the stairs. "Well…" She trailed off, unsure of how to start.

"I love you too mom." Dante said as he pulled his mom in a hug. He really would miss her after all, just as much as he wanted leave in fact. But in their hearts both of them knew that this couldn't last anymore. Dante had a gypsy soul and while he would certainly visit from time to time, staying any longer would tear him up inside.

"Oh honey, I'm going to miss you!" His mother finally let the tears out. "Just promise me you'll stay safe, alright? I don't want to find you froze to death somewhere just because you didn't put enough clothes on!"

Dante let out an embarrassed laugh. "Don't worry mom, I can't promise I won't ever be in danger, but me and Shadow will watch out for each other. And whatever other Pokémon I catch."

"Well I suppose that's right. At least I know one of you is responsible anyway. Speaking of which, here he comes now."

Sure enough, Shadow was running at full speed towards them looking no worse for the wear from his battle yesterday. Professor Elm followed at a slower pace behind him, looking a bit amused.

"Hey buddy!" Dante said as Shadow happily jumped into his arms. "You're just in time pal."

"Yes well I guess it's time Dante." Professor Elm said with pride. "I guess Rain will just have to run my errands from now on. Speaking of Rain, where is she? I can't believe she wouldn't see you off."

"Good question." Dante said in confusion. "She said she was coming to see me off."

Right at that moment a yell came from the house next door, which happened to be Rain's. Moments later Rain's father ran out, noticing Dante and crew outside, and quickly ran over.

"It's terrible!" He cried out through his tears. "Rain has ran off.'

"What! What do you mean she ran off!" Dante exclaimed in shock.

"She left this note that said she left to find a criminal who stole some Pokémon! That just sounds so dangerous!"

"Oh no!" Dante said. "Well, if it makes you feel better sir, I don't think the thief would hurt her personally. He just seemed like he wanted Pokémon."

"Well I suppose that helps a little." Her father said, calming down a little. "And she was going to leave on her journey soon anyway. I just wish she would have told me first. Can you promise to look after her for me Dante?"

"Of course sir, I would have done that anyway."

"Well that makes me feel a little better then. Can you give her this money when you see her Dante? I want her to be able to take care of herself and you're the only person I trust to get it to her."

"No problem sir, I'll have it to her in a couple of days. If she left last night and we get back to Violet City in three days, will we be in time to catch her there Jacen?"

"Yes, if she left last night and has to take the time to trail someone, I think we can catch up to her." Jacen replied after a moment of thought. "But we need to get going now then."

"One last thing Jacen!" Professor Elm butted in. "Dante, I was going to give you one of those Pokémon as a thanks for helping me all these years, but since I can't do that, I had to come up with an alternative. So I dug out these Great Balls from my storage. They're basically an upgraded version of a Pokéball, but with a better chance of catching a Pokémon. I gave you five, which is what you will need to round out your team."

"Wow thanks professor; you're the best!"

"Alright, time to go kid." Jacen gruffly cut in. Apparently the mushy goodbyes had finally got to him.

"Ok, I'm ready. But how are we going to going to go out and train and catch Pokémon for two days and still be in Violet City on the third day?"

Jacen let out a booming laugh and replied, "Flying of course. Fang can get us anywhere we need to go in plenty of time."

"Oh boy…." Dante said with realization. This was not how he pictured his journey starting at all. Suddenly Jacen released Fang, and without giving Dante and Shadow time to react, tossed them both on Fang's back.

"See ya later everyone!" Jacen yelled as he let out a great cry of delight. Dante on the other hand could only scream and hold on for his life as Fang took off in the air like a rocket, leaving everything Dante knew behind. Shadow could only curl up in Dante's lap and hold on, keeping its eyes firmly shut.

…

Author's note: Sorry it's been so long. I had a bad case of writer's block and a rather busy month didn't help. This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I had to get something out before I started studying hard for finals. I doubt I'll have anything updated until Christmas break, but I'll be sure to have a least a couple updates over that time. If I can pry myself away from the The Old Republic by then anyway.


	5. Chapter 4: Fire and Lightning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon**

**To SunshineTails: Thanks for reviewing! Eevee is one of my favorites too. I basically wrote this with the intentions of keeping the general plot the same, but changing around some things. What did you think about the rival stealing all three of the starters?**

**To Pure Gamer: Thanks, I definitely will! I got some big plans for this story. I would really like to take it through multiple games but that depends how I feel when this one gets done.**

Chapter Four: Fire and Lightning

"So Jacen, just where are we going anyway?" Dante shouted over the noise of the wind. Riding on Fang was like nothing Dante had ever experienced. Soaring through the air gave him a sense of freedom unlike anything he had ever experienced. If flying on all Pokémon was like this, then Dante couldn't wait to get a flying Pokémon of his own. Shadow, however, didn't like it all. For the first time in three years the Eevee had to go into his Pokéball. It seemed like flying and Eevee just didn't mix.

"Goldenrod." Jacen shouted back. "My plan is to go to the wilderness by Ecruteak City. But with Rain running off on her own I figured we should make a pit stop by her grandparents Pokémon Day Care to warn them to look out for her, just in case you can't catch up to her."

"That's a good plan. Besides, I've always wanted to see her grandparents Day Care." Dante tried to imagine what the Day Care would be like, having only vague descriptions from Rain to go by. He just couldn't see how an elderly couple could look after so many Pokémon on their own.

"It's definitely something to see. Speaking of which here's your chance." 

Dante looked down and couldn't believe his eyes. The Day Care seemed to stretch on for hundreds of acres, with plenty of ponds and grassy feeding areas. There were even some wooded areas, where Dante assumed the bug types and other woodsy types stayed. His question of how the couple took care of the Pokémon was also answered, at least a dozen workers could be seen working around the property, feeding and caring for the Pokémon.

"Hold on, we're going down!" Jacen shouted the glee evident in his voice.

"Yaaaahhhhhhoooooooo!" Dante shouted along. While he wasn't quite used to landing and takeoffs yet, he would be damned if that was going to spoil the fun of it for him.

Fang speedily shot down towards what looked to be the main building, a large two story house, which, if Dante remembered from Rain right, doubled as her grandparents' house and main office. As Fang let out what was quickly appearing to be his trademark landing roar, the elderly couple ran, (surprisingly quick for their age) out of the house. While at first they looked concerned, upon recognizing Jacen a look of relief passed over their faces.

"Jacen, I swear nobody makes an entrance like you do! And now you've got a Salamence? I suppose your trip to Hoenn went well then?" Rain's grandma shot a disapproving look at Jacen, while stamping her foot and evidently waiting for an apology.

"Umm, sorry Ma'am." Jason said while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. After returning Fang to his Pokéball he added, "I kind of forgot that you don't like the bold entrances."

"Oh it's no matter I suppose." The Day Care Lady replied with a wave of her hand. "At least you appear to be raising it well. That's as healthy of a Salamence as I've ever seen. And who is this? She inquired, noticing Dante for the first time. "It's not like you to have company." 

"I'm Dante, Rain's friend from back home." Dante replied holding out his hand for her and the old man to shake.

"Oh so you're Rain's little boyfriend!" The lady replied while returning the handshake. "I recognize you from all the pictures Rain sent over the years. Rain's grandfather meanwhile, was giving Dante a very close look over, evidently evaluating his worthiness to be Rain's boyfriend.

"Whoa! Hang on there!" Dante said as his faced was flushed with embarrassment. "We're just friends, not going out!"

"If you say so young man." The Day Care lady responded with a wink.

"Speaking of Rain though," Jacen cut in, "she's the reason we came by."

"Oh?" The Rain's grandfather inquired, concern etched across his face. "Is something wrong?"

"Well it's not too terribly serious." Dante explained. "Rain has just decided to start her journey a little early, mainly to catch a Pokémon thief."

"Is the thief dangerous?"

"I don't think so, no. At least not in the sense that he would hurt Rain anyway. But he does seem to be predisposed to mistreating his Pokémon."

"That's terrible. I do hope she'll be ok." Her grandmother replied, still looking a little worried. "Speaking of Pokémon cruelty, I don't suppose you can do us a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, we recently had two Pokémon come in who had been mistreated by their trainers. We tried everything we could to get them to feel comfortable, but the two of them have run off. I don't suppose you could look for them could you?"

"Hmmm, I guess so. What do you think Jacen? Do we have time?"

"Of course we do." Jacen said without a moment of hesitation. "It will be a good lesson for you anyway. While caring for your Pokémon is the most important thing for a trainer, it's also important to help out everyone you can along the way."

"Ok that settles it then! What Pokémon were they and which way did they go?"

"Well, the two Pokémon were an Elekid and a Magby. We followed their tracks to the east, but soon lost track of them."

"Well Dante, how about you and Shadow look on the ground while Fang and I search from the sky?" Jacen proposed after a moment of thought. "Then if we spot anything I can call you on the pokegear to give you directions."

"Sounds like a plan." Dante took Shadow's Pokéball out and released him. "Alright boy, we have a mission." Shadow noted Dante's serious tone and nodded. "We've got a Magby and an Elekid who were mistreated by their trainers and ran off. Our job is to find them and bring them back. And maybe while we're at it, we'll show them that not all trainers are bad. Do you think you can sniff them out from their trail?"

Shadow responded with a bark in the affirmative, and trotted over to the tracks. It paused a minute to make sure Dante was keeping up, before heading through the nearby forest.

Jacen let out an impressed whistle. "Ya, I can definitely tell you've been training him well. That's one of the smartest Eevee I've seen."

"Thanks Jacen! Well I better follow him; let me know if you see them." Dante turned around and took off after Shadow. Jacen let out a little laugh, before releasing Fang and taking off.

…..

Several hours later Shadow was having some difficulty picking up the trail. The two Pokémon were evidently pretty smart, and had crossed a stream to lose their scent. Shadow, was relishing the challenge however, and was currently going along the opposite bank to figure out where the duo had crossed. Dante just looked on in smug amusement, knowing it was only a matter of time before Shadow picked up the trail. He and Shadow had practiced tracking on the local Sentret and Rattata, and there wasn't a trick in the book the pair hadn't encountered.

Suddenly Shadow gave a bark of recognition, and took off from the bank into the woods. Dante just smile and shook his head, before he too headed off into the woods after their targets.

….

Half an hour later, Dante's pokegear finally went off. Dante answered, and tried to make out Jacen's voice on the other end. "Dante! Can you hear me?"

"Barely, but yeah. Any sign of the Pokémon?"

"Yup, they're approximately two hundred yards from you and Shadow. They look like they're sparring with each other, so if you keep quiet, you should be able to take them by surprise."

"Perfect. You think you can land without tipping them off? I'd like to cut off their escape if we can."

"Sounds like a plan kid. I'll just have to switch out to someone a little more stealthy. It's been awhile since I got to do a midair mount switch." He couldn't quite keep out the glee in his voice at getting to do the extremely difficult stunt.

"Fine, just don't kill yourself." Dante replied with a shake of his head. His cousin had a flair for the dramatic, that was for sure. He shut the pokegear off with a click, before turning to Shadow and saying, "Alright, you heard the man, stealth mode it is from here on out." Shadow responded a little grin, before the two of them crept through the brush, barely making a sound.

A short fifteen minutes later, the duo came across a clearing. And there were the Magby and Elekid right there. Finding the two wasn't surprising though, but rather the no holds barred boxing match the two appeared to be in. The two were pummeling each other with no mercy, and neither looked ready to quit. Dante had originally planned to get the jump on them, but couldn't stand to see the two kill each other like they appeared set out to do.

"Stop!" Dante yelled as he ran into the clearing. "What are you doing?" The two Pokémon stopped their bout and turned around to look at the new arrivals. Upon noticing it was a trainer, sneers formed upon their faces. Both were short, only about 2 feet tall. But while one was red, and had a short tail, the other was yellow and had two horns on its head that looked almost like an electrical plug.

Upon seeing Shadow, the two went into a brief explanation in the language all Pokémon seemed to understand. Dante didn't understand a lot of it, but got the general impression that the two were rivals, and definitely not happy about his presence.

"Whoa there guys. I'm not going to hurt you." Dante calmly said, while putting his hands up to show he meant no harm. After his incident with the Weevil, he had learned how to handle agitated Pokémon much better. Granted those had been mainly Rattata, but the same principles applied.

"No, but I am!" A voice from off to the side proclaimed. Everyone turned around towards the new speaker. It was a man who appeared to be in his late 20's, and dressed in a full black uniform with a giant red R down the middle.

"Who the hell are you?" Dante replied with a look of scorn at the man. He definitely looked like a rough type, and Dante didn't like where the situation seemed to be headed.

"I am a member of Team Rocket, the most powerful gang in Johto and Kanto!" The man replied with a smug grin. "Or at least we were in Kanto before that damn kid took out our leader and most of our bases. But we're using Johto as our regrouping point, and soon we'll be back in business." 

"Oh, I remember you guys now. The Champion Red took you guys out three years ago." Dante said in recollection. Then his face turned to stone and he said, "You guys are nothing but scum, using Pokémon for no good."

"Call us scum if you want." The man said with a wave of his hand. "But we're going to be running this region soon! And I'm going to start by stealing this Elekid and Magby. Thanks for saving me the time of tracking these two down by the way. Lucky for me our source inside the Day Care told me to just follow you. Now go Golbat! Take those two down." The man took out a Pokéball, and out came a large blue bat with purple on the inside of its wings. The Pokémon let out a screech that caused everyone to cover their ears, before taking off at a high speed and using take down on Elekid and Magby simultaneously. Both of the Pokémon were almost instantly knocked out from the power of the attack. The Golbat immediately picked them up, one in each talon and moved to fly off.

"Hold on a minute! Shadow, use hidden power if you can to stop it!" Shadow immediately began glowing, and, to the surprise of the Rocket member and the Golbat, let out a crushing wave of dark energy. The Golbat dropped both of the Pokémon on the spot as the wave slammed it into the ground. It soon got up however, and had a look of pure rage across its face. Shadow on the other hand, looked like the move had taken quite a toll on it, as he was breathing heavily.

"Well, looks like I was after the wrong Pokémon!" The grunt said in surprise. "Oh well, now that your Eevee is tired, I can take it with no problem. Get it Golbat use Take down and then bring it over here!"

"No, Shadow! Try to dodge!" Shadow tried to move, but in his state of exhaustion had no chance of dodging the attack. Shadow was floored by the move, and once again the Golbat picked up its prey, ready to leave the scene.

"Oh no you don't!" Dante screamed. With a surge of adrenaline he charged the Golbat and, taking it by surprise, tackled it in midair. Normally Dante would never attack a Pokémon, but faced with the threat of losing his partner had no other choice.

"No way kid, you're not getting out of this that easy!" Dante yelped in surprise as the grunt threw him off the Golbat like a ragdoll. Dante jumped to his feet immediately and decked the grunt with a right hook before he could respond. Taking only a moment to shake off the blow, the grunt caught Dante in the side with a roundhouse kick. The blow nearly dropped Dante, but the rage at the thought of losing Shadow drove him on. He shook off the pain and tackled the grunt.

While Dante was fueled by rage and no stranger to a fight, the grunt had the benefit of a decade and about forty pounds of mostly muscle, and quickly took control of the fight. Soon he had Dante pinned on the ground in a chokehold, while Shadow was still held in the Golbat's grasp nearby.

"Well kid, you should've just let me take the Pokémon." The grunt seethed. "I would have just let you go. Now it's all over for you."

"Dante realized the grunt was right, and prepared for death, lamenting in his head that he couldn't save Shadow or the other Pokémon. Just before he was about to black out however, the pressure off his neck was lifted. He gasped for breath and through his blurry vision, saw the Elekid and Magby beating the grunt into submission. Thanking his lucky stars, he shot up and noticed the Golbat's Pokéball on the ground nearby. Acting quickly, he grabbed the ball and returned the Golbat before it could react. Looking over he saw the pair had the grunt pinned on the ground and nearly unconscious.

"Thanks guys, you saved my life back there." Dante said as he looked over the two. The fact that the pair had managed to get up from the attack surprised the hell out of him. The two were certainly determined. The Elekid looked up, and began to explain as best it could in its language. Once again Dante couldn't quite make it all out, but evidently he had gained their respect by trying to save them at the risk of his life, and the pair had responded by saving him.

"Well, I really appreciate you guys. I know you've had bad experiences with trainers, but not all of us are like this guy and your old trainer. Most of us treat our Pokémon with respect." The pair nodded at him and then at each other, apparently convinced by his actions.

"Whoa, what the hell went on here!" Dante looked over to see Jacen running towards him at top speed. Elekid and Magby both tensed up, ready to take out the intruder.

"Calm down guys, he's with me." Dante said soothingly. Sensing no fear from Dante, the pair lowered their guard and went back to watching over the grunt, although still watching Jacen out of the corner of their eyes. "Well to make a long story short, I found these two and was about to talk to them, before this Team Rocket grunt showed up."

"Hang on a sec, did you say he was from Team Rocket?" Jacen asked aghast. The implications of Team Rocket gaining power in Johto were going through his head.

"Yes he is. He apparently had a source in the Day Care that said we were looking for these two, so he tailed me. He tried to take them, but Shadow and I tried to stop them. Shadow injured his Golbat, but he wasn't quite strong enough and he lost. Then he tried to take Shadow instead, so I fought him. I gave him a good fight, but eventually he was just too strong for me. He had me in a chokehold and almost killed me, but these two jumped in and subdued him. Luckily he dropped the Golbat's ball, and I managed to return it. And here we are now." Dante finally finished, slightly out of breath from the fight and long explanation. Suddenly he turned to look at Jacen and asked accusingly, "And where were you at? I could have used your help!"

"I'm so sorry." Jacen replied, almost in tears. I was going to let this be a test for you, to see if you could handle these two. So I gave you some space and waited. If I had known this Rocket would show up…"

Dante shook his head and put his hand on Jacen's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault. Besides, I guess your little test worked out even better than you thought. I held my own against a member of Team Rocket."

"Yeah, but if it wasn't for these two…." Jacen trailed off.

"I would have ran." Dante finished for him. "Speaking of these two, I don't think we should bring them back." The Pokémon in question looked up at this. "They've been through too much to make them go back to a trainer, so if they want to stay wild we should let them." Dante turned around to the two. "How about it guys? You want to stay in the wild right?"

The pair of them looked at each other and began discussing between themselves what they wanted to do. Surprisingly, the pair turned back and shook their heads no.

"What?" Dante couldn't believe it. Earlier these two had wanted nothing to do with trainers, and now, after a Team Rocket attack, they wanted one. What had changed?

The two responded by pointing directly at him, then at the Greatballs on his belt.

"You want to go with me? Why would you want to do that?" Once again the pair tried communicating as best they could their reasoning to Dante and Shadow, and while Shadow understood the whole thing, Dante was at a bit of a loss.

"I think," Jacen said slowly, "that you and Shadow earned these two's respect by risking your lives for them."

"I guess that makes sense." Dante said. "So you guys really want to go with me?" The two immediately began nodding enthusiastically. "Well that settles it. I guess we can make it official then." Dante threw the two Greatballs, and the pair were immediately sucked in with no resistance. After picking up the balls, Dante looked over at the unconscious grunt. "So what do we do with him?"

"It's too late for us to go back, but I can send him with Fang to the police station, along with the Golbat. I'll call ahead to let them know he's coming. Meanwhile, you should let those two back out and treat them, I have some medicine in my pack."

"Sounds good." Dante let out the pair once again, and applied the medicine to them and Shadow. Meanwhile, Jacen called the police and informed them he had caught a Team Rocket member, and that a Salamence was bringing it in for delivery.

After giving Fang strict instructions to frighten the grunt as much as possible if he woke up, Jacen set up the tents. Soon the group all settled down and fell asleep, trying to put the events of the day behind them.

….

_Meanwhile_

"Oh my goodness!" Rain shouted. Sitting off the side of the road with a broken Pokéball, was a Cyndaquil. It looked to have been kicked, although not beaten up too brutally. Rain carefully picked it up and headed towards Violet City as fast as possible. "Don't worry little guy." Rain said soothingly. "I'll take care of you."

…

**Author's note: Yes, it's been only a day and I updated. It turned out I didn't have a lot to do today, and after noticing the reviews and the increased number of people reading I got a blast of motivation. I hope the fight scene turned out ok, as I don't really have any experience writing. I just wanted to let you guys know I really appreciate all feedback, even if it is negative. Thanks again for reading! Until next time!**


	6. Chapter 5: The Two Towers

Chapter Five: The Two Towers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or the Lord of the Rings book this chapter name is taken from**

…..

_The Rocket grunt ducked a mistimed punch from Dante, and quickly took advantage of Dante's unbalance to tackle him to the ground. The grunt immediately grabbed for Dante's throat, and before Dante could react, had him in a chokehold. "Well kid, you should've just let me take the Pokémon." The grunt seethed. "I would have just let you go. Now it's all over for you." With no air Dante soon lost most of his strength to fight back, and he saw blackness creeping in from the corners of his vision. "__**This is it**__," he realized. "__**I'm really going to…**__"_

…

"…_die_." Dante sat up with a start, reaching for hands at his throat were no longer there. It was still dark out, and still a few hours until morning. He took a quick scan of the rest of camp, checking to see if he had woken anyone else with his movement. Only Shadow had woken, but only because he had been snuggled up next to Dante.

"Vee?" Shadow asked Dante with an alarmed look.

"It's nothing buddy," Dante responded, "just a bad dream." Shadow didn't look convinced, but curled up and went to sleep regardless. Dante rubbed his eyes, but didn't go back to sleep. If that's what he had to look forward to every time he slept from now on then he was no hurry to return to it. He had never really come that close to death before, he realized. Sure, the incident with the Weedle had been a close thing a few tears ago, but that had been a matter of an hour or two, this had been mere _moments_. But then he looked over to his side and noticed the Magby and Elekid sleeping. Because of him, these two were safe, happy, and relatively unhurt. And suddenly he knew that he would risk death every time for causes like this. He could hardly fix all the problems in the world, but why not prevent all the ones he could? With a new resolve Dante laid back down and went back to sleep. Now that he knew and was prepared to accept the consequences of his path, he didn't feel as afraid as he had when he woke up.

This time around, his sleep held no nightmares for him.

…..

A deafening roar echoed throughout the camp, accompanied by thunderous wing beats that only a beast of Fang's size could cause. Needless to say everyone awoke very quickly.

"Always one for the grand entrance eh pal?" Jacen said as he walked over to Fang.

"Your dragon is about as stealthy as a hurricane." Dante grumbled, having hoped he would get a little more sleep. "I don't suppose he has a message back from the police?"

"Why sneak if you're as big and strong as him?" Jacen replied with amusement. "Although now that you mention it, he does seem to have a message tied around his neck." Jacen snatched the letter from the rope around Fang's neck and quickly read it over. "So it seems the Rocket Grunt was wanted pretty badly by the police. He was apparently wanted for several Pokémon kidnappings, and even a couple murders."

"That doesn't exactly surprise me," Dante mused, "it's a good thing we stopped him. Now he'll never hurt anyone again."

"There also was a pretty large bounty out for his arrest. When you reach Goldenrod on your journey I imagine you'll be a good deal richer kid."

"Well at least something good came out of this. Other than getting you guys of course." Dante corrected, having noticed the indignant looks on Elekid and Magby's faces. "I guess we should head back to the daycare now?"

"No, I called them last night to let them know the situation. They felt so bad for putting you in danger that they didn't even mind you catching Elekid and Magby without asking."

"Oops." Dante couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that before agreeing to train the two. "I'm going to have to be more careful in the future about that. Where are we going to then?"

"Violet City. You proved yesterday that you're more than ready to go out on your own."

"Really?" Dante was pleasantly surprised. He had almost expected to have Jacen make him train with him for another day or two after the Rocket incident.

"Yup, and we leave now. So return your Pokémon and let's go already." Dante didn't need to be told twice, and in a matter of minutes he was once again sailing through the sky on Fang.

….

The journey to Violet City went by relatively quick, Dante noted. The wind had been with them which helped the cut the six hour flight into a three hour one. As usual, upon landing in the City Fang let out a roar that would have made Rayquaza proud, and scattered all the townsfolk nearby.

"That never gets old." Jacen remarked with a smile as he hopped off Fang.

"Ya, well I wouldn't mind not having half the town scared to death of me before I arrived either." Dante grumbled back.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that anymore kid." Jacen laughed in reply. "It's all on foot for you from now on."

"I think I'll get over it."

"I should hope so. Fang, hang on a second buddy." Jacen turned to Dante and gave him a serious look. "Well kid, this it. From now on you're on your own. There's more I could teach you, but I think you're the type to learn on the fly, rather than lean on someone else for all your problems."

"You know me too well cuz." Dante replied as he shook Jacen's hand. "Take care of yourself."

"I'm more worried about you to be honest." Jacen replied. "Just try to stay out of trouble." Jacen turned around and hopped onto Fang's back, ready to take off once more. "Oh, one last piece of advice. Before the gym try out the Sprout Tower. If you can make it through there, Falkner will be a cinch."

Right after finishing those words, Fang let out his trademark roar, and Jacen was again soaring through the skies. Dante stood and watched them go until he could no longer see them on the horizon. He decided to take Jacen's advice and go through Sprout Tower first. Hoping his Pokémon agreed, he let them all out.

Simultaneous cries of "Vee!", "Kid!", and "Bee!" were heard as Dante's Pokémon were let out. Shadow leapt happily to Dante's side, while the Magby and Elekid looked unsure of what to do.

"Hey guys!" Dante called out to his team. "Do you guys feel up to some battling?" Dante's new Pokémon uncertainty was immediately replaced with determined nods. "Wait a minute." Dante paused. "I haven't even given you guys names yet! You guys do want names right?"

Elekid and Magby gave each other a confused look, having had no need of specific names before. Shadow walked over to them and carefully explained the whole idea of it, namely to distinguish them from other Pokémon of their species. After finally understanding what Dante was asking, both warmed to the idea and wanted names.

"Hmm, what to call you guys." Dante pondered. "You're both pretty strong-willed and like to battle, so the names should reflect that." After taking a few minutes to think it over, Dante finally came up with the perfect names. "I got it! Elekid, I'll call you Thor, after one of the Old warrior gods of thunder. And Magby, I'll call you Vulcan, for one of the Old gods of fire." Not much was known about the Old gods, only that in distant lands where no Pokémon dwelled, ancient men had worshipped them. Both Vulcan and Thor seemed to enjoy having the names of gods, and they quickly took to them.

The crew then headed off towards what was unmistakably the Sprout Tower. The tower dwarfed nearly every other building in town; it was at least 15 stories high, but it almost seemed as if it swayed back and forth like a plant stalk. Only one other building was higher than Sprout Tower. The building in question was a giant spire that towered to what looked to be at least 600 feet high, if not taller. Dante knew from his studies on training that that building was his next destination after Sprout, the Violet City Gym, recently taken over by Falkner, the bird master. Just looking at the gym made him wish Jacen had stuck around to fly him up there with Fang.

Just before reaching the gates leading into the tower however, Dante came to a startling realization. He had not trained at all with Vulcan and Thor, and therefore, had no idea what moves the duo was capable of using. "Hang on a second guys." Dante raised his hands to stop them. "Before we go in and battle, it's probably a good idea that I know what kind of moves you can use."

Thor and Vulcan both nodded, seeing the wisdom in Dante knowing how best to utilize them. "We'll start with you Thor. I figure you can use the basic moves like Tackle and Scratch. But can you use any of your electrical moves?"

Thor gave an affirmative nod. He then gave a deep look of concentration and clenched his fist. A second later sparks of electricity crackled around his body. They wouldn't be much use long range, but if Thor ran into an opponent while charging them a decent amount of damage would be dealt. From what Dante could tell, it was an attack called Spark. "That's enough bud." Dante said. "I don't want you to tire yourself out before we even battle. What about you Vulcan, can you use any of your fire attacks?" Magby too gave a little nod, before taking a deep breath. When he exhaled, a small fireball was launched out and landed a few feet away. Dante recognized this attack as well. It was a common low level move called Ember. It didn't do a lot of damage, but it was a good starting point to begin teaching stronger attacks.

"Ok guys, I think that will do then." Dante said happily. Not having to teach their elemental attacks saved him a lot of work. "Now it's my job to call the shots in a battle, but we're all partners here. If the battle is going a little rough and you think you have a good plan, then by all means, go ahead and use it. I know I won't be right every time." Shadow gave a look that seemed to say "I already know all of that", but Vulcan and Thor both looked relieved that their decision-making wouldn't be completely taken from then. Having straightened all of that out, the group entered the tower.

…

The first thing that jumped out upon entering the building was the huge pillar in the center of the tower. It actually _swayed_ back and forth. Which should be impossible, considering that wood didn't sway. The group stared at the phenomenon for a minute, before finally snapping out of their daze and noticing the stairs nearby. They made it to the fourth floor, before being stopped by an old man with a Bellsprout.

"Hold on there young man!" The old man said. "If you wish to make it to the top to battle my master, you first must defeat at least one member of our order."

"Alright then, I'll play along." Dante replied with a grin. "How about it Vulcan, you feel like starting it off?"

"Mag!" Vulcan nodded with enthusiasm.

"Ok then whippersnapper, I'll make the first move. Bellsprout, use vine whip!" The Bellsprout suddenly extended vines from its stem, and before Vulcan could react, smacked it with them. "It didn't really do much though, as Vulcan was resistant to grass attacks.

"You alright Vulcan?" Dante asked with concern. After receiving a quick nod of reassurance, Dante replied "Ok then! Use that Ember attack you showed me earlier!" Vulcan was quick to oblige, and shot a little fireball at the plant-like Pokémon. The Bellsprout couldn't dodge quick enough, and the fire proved too much for it to handle. The old man returned his Pokémon and gave Dante a nod of approval. "So while you are a new trainer, you have already mastered the first lesson of battling- using your strengths to an advantage. But be warned, you won't always be able to rely on such tactics. Eventually you'll have to win in an even battle."

"Take it easy gramps, I know that." Dante replied with a laugh. "But thanks for advice. I did enjoy our battle.

"Thank you child, but you needn't flatter me. I know that wasn't much of a fight. Rest assured though, our master will be a much better challenge for you."

"Looking forward to it Gramps. Catch ya later!" Dante gave a quick salute before leading the team up the stairs again. Having passed the entrance challenge, the other monks in the tower let him go by without battling. The rest of the climb up was largely uneventful, but that was more than made up for by what awaited him at top.

The first thing he saw when he finally climbed the last stair was a Hoothoot slumped over on the floor unconscious. Its opponent was none other than the Totodile stolen from Professor Elm's lab. Sure enough, on the other side of the room stood Zane, a cocky smirk etched on his face. The old man he had challenged recalled his Hoothoot with a sigh, and folded his hands.

"You are certainly a talented trainer, no doubt about it." The old man, presumably the leader of the monks of Sprout Tower, began. "But you treat your Pokémon poorly. A great trainer treats his Pokémon with love and kindness."

"Bah, what do I need weak Pokémon like that for?" Zane scoffed. "The only thing that matters is strength, and strong Pokémon don't need to be coddled."

"That's a terrible viewpoint." Dante cut in.

"Oh, it's you." Zane turned around in surprise. "The kid who beat me by pure luck. Fortunately for you, my Pokémon aren't in condition to battle you right now. They would probably still beat you, but when we battle next I'm going to take you down hard."

"You're not going anywhere." Dante answered. "I'm taking you to the police for stealing the Professors Pokémon."

"Ha, as if I'd just let you do that." Zane replied with a sneer. "Besides, these Pokémon are registered to me, the police can't do anything."

"What! How can that be?" Dante pulled out his pokedex to make sure. Sure enough, it said that the Totodile was registered to Zane Powers.

"I know a guy." Zane shrugged. "So looks like I'm out of here. Catch ya later wimp." Zane recalled Totodile and made sure to bump Dante with his shoulder as he walked out. Dante shook his head in amazement. So he couldn't even legally save Elm's Pokémon now? And what would Rain do when she found out? She had left home months before she planned to start her journey just to save the Pokémon.

"Hmm, hmm." Dante was snapped out of his thoughts by a cough from the master.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir." Dante apologized. "My name is Dante, and I came here to challenge you."

"Very well, I had guessed as much." The old man replied. "Let me see how you battle then." Like his previous opponent, the old man also released a Bellsprout. Since he had so much success last time, Dante decided to go with Vulcan again as well. Upon being let out of his Pokéball, Vulcan let out a cry of "Mag!" and got into a boxer's stance ready to battle.

"Alright Vulcan, let's start this off like last time! Use Ember!" Vulcan nodded and let out a little fireball at the Bellsprout. But unlike last time, the Bellsprout swayed just enough at the last second to dodge the fireball.

"Sorry sonny, you're going to have to do better than that if you want to win. I've trained my Bellsprout to sway like the tower, which makes it difficult to hit him with any attacks." The old man gloated. "Now Bellsprout, use Vine Whip!" Vulcan wasn't prepared for the attack and was promptly knocked on his back.

"You ok buddy?" Dante asked nervously. Vulcan only shook his head and gave a thumbs up sign. While the attack was stronger than the one used in the last battle, it still didn't do much damage because of the type disadvantage. "Alright then, let's try attacking up close, try giving him a few punches and see if it can dodge those." Vulcan nodded and sprinted next to the Bellsprout and punched it with everything he had. Once again though, the grass Pokémon dodged every attack, swaying just enough each time to make the attacks miss.

Suddenly Dante had an idea. There had been one attack he hadn't seen Vulcan use yet that the pokedex had said he knew. "Let's see it dodge this for timing then! Use Mach Punch!" Vulcan obliged, and faster than the eye could see, he struck the Bellsprout in the face. Because the Bellsprout's way of dodging required precise timing, it couldn't keep up with the speed of the punch. The plant Pokémon doggedly got back up, but its lack of speed had been revealed, and Vulcan took the opportunity to unleash a stream of Mach Punches in quick succession. This proved to be too much.

"You allow your Pokémon to battle without orders? Good trainers keep control of their Pokémon." The old man chided.

"No, my Pokémon are my partners. If they see an advantage, I let them take advantage of it. Take that last exchange for example. After that first Mach Punch, your Bellsprout waited for you to tell it what to do. While it was waiting though, my Magby had already figured out how to win on its own. If it had waited for me, you may have had a chance to counter."

The old man took a moment to ponder Dante's answer before replying, "It seems I was mistaken. I suppose even old men like me can still learn a few things. You have proven to be both a kind and resourceful trainer. As a reward, take this TM. It will teach a Pokémon of your choosing the move Flash. This will let you travers caves and other dark places you otherwise wouldn't be able to see in."

"Wow, thank you sir!" Dante was shocked. TM's were rare and very expensive. Being able to teach a Pokémon a new move with no training was very convenient indeed.

"No, thank you son. It warms my heart to see trainers like you out there. I would say that you're definitely ready for the Violet City Gym. Be warned though, the climb to the top of the gym makes the climb up here look like a walk in the park." 

"Thanks for the warning and the battle gramps. Take care all right?" Dante gave the old man a salute as he walked back down the stairs. The old man gave a smile as he walked out, before turning around and looking out the window. It really did have a nice view of the Violet City Gym Spire….

….

"This tower is entirely too damn tall." Dante mumbled to himself. He figured he had to be almost to the top now, although he had been climbing for an hour and a half already. The worst part of it was that there was a huge lift that went straight to the top. But unfortunately for him, challengers weren't allowed to take it up in order to prove their determination on the climb. Not a bad idea really, but it was extremely annoying. About halfway up there had been a break room containing a few couches and a trainer, stationed there as a test for new challengers. It hadn't been much of a test though; Thor had taken the trainer's Pidgey down with a quick Sand Attack-Spark combo. He was getting kind of lonely during the climb though. He had returned all of his Pokémon to keep them fresh for the battle at the top.

Soon enough, he had reached the top. The view was, to say the least, breathtaking. It was like flying on Fang all over again. It made sense then, he realized, why this would be the arena for a flying type. It was almost just like battling in the sky, albeit with a floor underneath you. After taking a moment to catch his breath and admire the view, Dante took a look at the Gym leader waiting for him. He was slightly taller than Dante, and also looked to be a few years older. His hair was a dark, almost navy color and shoulder length. He gave Dante a haughty look as he walked to the middle of the arena before finally saying, "Welcome. This is the Violet City Gym, sometimes called the Spire. My father started this gym years ago, using his powerful flying Pokémon to build this place. Are you ready for this challenge?"

"I am." Dante answered, with as much steel in his voice as he could manage. _Finally_, here was a chance to really prove himself against one of the best trainers in the region. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous though.

"Very well then. This will be a two on two battle with no switching out Pokémon. Once you do, that Pokémon will be disqualified for the rest of the match. First person to have two Pokémon faint loses. I'll start it off! Pidgey, take flight!" Dante couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. His first big gym battle, and he had to face a Pidgey? If that was the best he was going to face, he decided, then he would just sweep the gym with Shadow.

"Ok Shadow, let's kick start this! Use Hidden Power!" Immediately upon being let out, Shadow let out a large wave of dark energy at the little bird Pokémon. Needless to say, the Pidgey went down without a fight. Shadow, on the other hand, already looked exhausted after unleashing the attack. Too late, Dante realized, that Shadow hadn't yet fully mastered that attack. Falkner on the other hand, looked absolutely livid at Dante's tactics.

"That was totally unnecessary." Falkner replied coolly as he returned the Pidgey. "I only use that Pidgey to test new trainers, there was no way it could handle a blast like that. The master at Sprout Tower sent word ahead that you were an honorable trainer, but it seems to me that you're nothing but a thug. No matter, I'll beat you easily with my last Pokémon." Falkner released his next Pokémon, which Dante recognized as a Pidgeotto, the evolved form of Pidgey. Dante suddenly felt sick to his stomach as he eyed his next opponent. The Pidgeotto had a predatory glint in its eye, a look the Pidgey had lacked. Here was a fighter to the core, the true challenge of the Spire. A hidden power attack would have been invaluable here, but Dante could tell from the look Shadow had that there would be no way he could pull it off again.

"Shadow, use quick attack!" Dante called out.

"You too Pidgeotto!" Falkner responded. The Pokémon simultaneously slammed into each other, with both having looked to have sustained a bit of damage. Shadow, however, looked to have taken the worst of the attack. He seemed to have trouble standing, while Pidgeotto only looked to be a little battered. Having made his decision, Dante called out, "Shadow return!" Shadow gave Dante a momentary look of surprise and disappointment, before heading back over to Dante's side of the arena.

"You know you can't use him again right?" Falkner asked, surprise evident in his voice.

"Yes I do." Dante replied. "But contrary to what I showed earlier, I am no thug and Shadow didn't have much left in the tank. If you had any battling skill at all, you would have just used a Gust attack from the sky until Shadow fainted. I just saved the time and called him back before you completely beat him up. Also, I didn't mean to take your Pidgey out with so much extra force. I was just very disappointed that my first official gym challenge was a Pidgey. Now I see that is not the case, so if I lose now, I only have myself to blame for my stupidity."

"It seems you have some decency after all." Falkner mused, some of the coldness having left his voice. "Call out your next Pokémon then, and we'll see if you can defeat Pidgeotto." Pidgeotto let out a trill at this, evidently not liking the idea of being defeated.

"All right then, Thor let's see you give it a shot!" The Elekid let out a shout of excitement as he was let out, before getting into a ready stance. Dante suddenly realized that he had a huge problem. Thor had no ranged attacks, and as long as Pidgeotto was in the air, he had no way of hitting it. Suddenly Dante was hit by inspiration, and quickly he devised a plan.

"Well, aren't you going to attack?" Falkner asked after waiting a few moments.

"Na, you can have first move." Dante replied with a shrug. Thor gave him a look of shock, before nodding when he saw Dante give him a wink to let him know it was all part of some sort of plan.

"Ok, it's your funeral. Pidgeotto, use Take Down!" Pidgeotto charged towards Thor at a reckless pace, obviously looking to finish the battle right away.

"Now, use Spark Thor!" Thor quickly charged itself with static, and ran towards the incoming Pidgeotto. Falkner only had time for a brief look of horror, before the two collided. Both looked damaged although Pidgeotto looked a bit worse off.

"Clever." Falkner said with a hint of respect. "The Sprout master did say you were resourceful. But now I see your weakness, your Elekid can only attack from close range. So Pidgeotto, fly into the air and just keep using gust!" The large bird obliged, and suddenly Thor was buffeted by waves of air. Dante was out of ideas for a moment, before noticing one strategy he had missed.

"Thor, use Flash to blind it!" Dante shouted before covering his eyes. Thor responded by letting out a blinding white light out, stunning all those watching it. Pidgeotto was so blinded that it stopped flying to cover its eyes with a wing. Needless to say, it crashed to the ground in a heap. As it started to get up, Thor saw his chance and charged up a spark attack, taking it out of the fight completely.

"Good job buddy!" Dante called out as he ran up towards Thor. Thor let out a shout in celebration, before suddenly shooting out a large spark of electricity into the sky. Dante looked on in awe before saying, "Awesome, you learned Thundershock! Now we don't have to worry about that long range problem again." After giving Thor a high-five, he returned him to give him some rest before turning towards Falkner, who already had his hand extended to shake.

"That was a good battle." Falkner said as they shook hands. "I was wrong about you being a thug; you treat your Pokémon with much respect."

"I may not be a thug," Dante replied, "but I was still wrong to act as I did. Thank you for showing me that I still need to show restraint, even if I am upset."

"No problem." Falkner grinned. "My father used to say that with every difficult battle a trainer learns another lesson. I learned from this not to be so quick to judge, and that one action does not determine a person. So it seems to have held true for this battle." 

"Your father sounds like a wise man." Dante noted.

"That he was." Falkner nodded sadly. "I miss his guidance every day. But enough with this sad talk, here is the Zephyr Badge, you have more than earned it." 

Dante looked over the badge in awe, feeling quite proud of himself for making this first step on his journey.

"Also, you'll be glad to know, after winning the badge, you now get the privilege of using the lift." Falkner said with a wink. Dante gave him a smile of relief, before taking one last look over the horizon. It was sunset now, and Dante thought that he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. Suddenly, he remembered that he still had one last bit of business left in Violet City. Rain was here somewhere most likely, and seeing as he had to go there anyway, the Pokémon Center seemed as good a place as any to start.

….

**Author's note: I am so sorry this took so long. After exams, The Old Republic took over my life for a while, and then the Game of Thrones series. I promise the next update will be sooner. As far as the gym being a gigantic Spire, I took the inspiration from the Heartgold and Soulsilver remakes, except I made it a bit bigger. It may also be similar to the anime, but it's been so long since I watched it that I can't really remember. Make sure to review and say what you think about the story, even if you don't like it.**


	7. Chapter 6: Decisions

**Disclaimer: Contrary to what must be popular belief, I don't actually own Pokémon**

Chapter 6: Decisions

"Welcome to Violet City Pokémon center," the receptionist began, "how may I help you?"

"Could you treat my Pokémon please?" Dante asked. "They took some damage in my last couple of battles."

"Sure thing sir, just let me take their Pokéballs and we'll get them fighting fit in no time. It should only be a couple of hours, so you can either wait in here or explore the town."

"Hmm, that depends I guess. Have you had a girl named Rain in here lately? She has dark air, is a little bit shorter than me and has a Marill."

"Umm, yes we did now that you mention it. She brought in a Cyndaquil that was in pretty rough shape a couple days ago."

"What?" Dante exclaimed. Had Rain actually gotten one of the stolen Pokémon back? "Is it ok?"

"Well we fixed him up ok, but he must have been abandoned when she found him, because he was very skittish. You actually just missed her; she just left about half an hour ago. If I were you I would check by the park, she was going there to help the little guy calm down."

"Thanks, I'll head over there now then." Dante hurried out of the center and headed toward the park. "_Why had Zane abandoned the Cyndaquil?_" Dante thought to himself. Cyndaquil were rare and usually pretty powerful. Although, it had seemed pretty timid when he had battled it. Was that why it had been abandoned? Because it wasn't strong enough?

…..

As it turned out the park wasn't far at all from the Pokémon center, only about a twenty minute walk. The park itself however, was huge, and it took Dante another twenty minutes before he finally found Rain. She and the Cyndaquil were sitting by themselves on a bench at the far end of the park. Dante was going to sneak up and surprise them, but then decided against it after remembering how timid the Cyndaquil was.

"Rain!" Dante called out as he ran over to them.

"Rain looked over in surprise at hearing her name called, but let out a huge grin when she saw it was Dante. "Dante! It took you long enough!" She playfully punched him in the arm as a greeting.

"Sorry, I took a little detour by dragon." Dante joked in reply. "How's the Cyndaquil doing?"

"Not so good." Rain's good mood vanished instantly. "The poor guy is still traumatized from being abandoned."

"That's terrible. Are his injuries at least healed up well?" Dante looked back at the Cyndaquil on the bench for the first time since first walking up. It seemed that the fire mouse remembered Dante from their first encounter, as it was curled up defensively into a ball. That, or it was just that nervous around everyone.

"Yes, the center did a good job on him. But as you can see he's still very nervous around other people. I've only just now got him to open up to me a bit."

"Hmmm, well that's no good." Dante mused. "Have you told the professor you found him yet?"

"No I haven't. It kind of slipped my mind after I found him. Can you call him really quick and put him on speaker phone?"

"Good idea, I'll do that right now." Dante pulled out his pokegear and dialed in Professor Elm's number.

"Hello? Dante is that you?" The Professor's voice came out uncertain. Evidently he still hadn't quite got the hang of his pokegear.

"Yup, it sure is. And I've got Rain with me too." Dante switched it over to speakerphone so Rain could talk too.

"Hey professor!" Rain said into the phone. "We've got some good news and some bad news for you, which do you want first?"

"Well, I guess the good news."

"Ok. Well I found the Cyndaquil abandoned on the side of the path."

"Oh that's terrific. What's the bad news then?"

"The bad news," Dante cut in, "is that he's pretty traumatized from being with Zane. Oh and I forgot to tell Rain, I ran into Zane at Sprout Tower."

"What?" Rain yelped in surprise. "Why didn't you get the other Pokémon from him then?"

"That's the rest of the bad news. He must know someone in the black market, because he got the Pokémon registered legally to him somehow. So I couldn't do anything."

"That's terrible. My poor Pokémon are stuck in the hands of that cruel trainer." The rest of the professor's rant was unintelligible because of his crying."

"Then it doesn't matter if I catch up to him." Rain said in defeat.

"No, it doesn't." Dante replied. "But if I battle him and win enough, maybe I can prove that being kind is the best way to train Pokémon."

"I guess that's the best we can do then." The professor said after finishing crying. "It's on you then Dante. Oh, and I almost forgot. You can have the Cyndaquil if you want, I was going to give you one of the three Pokémon as a reward for getting the egg from Mr. Pokémon anyway."

Dante thought long and hard about it for a moment, not missing the look of disappointment on Rain's face as the professor said that. "Thanks professor, but I'm going to have to pass." Dante decided. "Rain's the only one who's gotten through to the little guy yet. Why don't you let her have him? I mean as long as she agrees of course." Dante quickly corrected himself, not wanting to push off an extremely needy Pokémon off on Rain.

"Hmm," The professor said thoughtfully on the other line. "Well as long as Rain agrees, I see no problem with it. But what am I going to reward you with for getting the egg?"

"Well, I don't know about any reward," Rain answered, "but I would love to have Cyndaquil. It will be great experience for me towards becoming a Pokémon breeder. And, truth be told, I'm getting pretty fond of the little guy."

"Well that's settled then." Dante said with relief. "And don't worry about any reward professor, we'll just call it a favor. Speaking of the egg, has it made any progress?" 

"Oh I'm glad you brought that up. As it turns out, I may need your help with that egg again."

"And why is that?" Dante cautiously asked. While he usually didn't mind helping out, now that he started his journey he had hoped to be done as the professor's errand boy.

"Well, the egg doesn't seem to be making any progress. There are some studies that show being around other Pokémon can help the egg hatch sooner. You think you could swing back by and pick it up?"

"Well….." Dante began. Now he was in a bit of a predicament. The last thing he wanted to do was go back to New Bark Town now. But he didn't want to let the professor down either…."

Luckily for him, Rain came to his rescue. "I don't think Dante wants to backtrack on his journey professor. But I'm planning on going home to calm my parents down anyway before I head back out. Is it ok if I take the egg?"

"Oh yes, that would be fine Rain. I suppose it is rather selfish of me now that I think about it to stall Dante's journey anymore. Very well then, Rain will take the egg and Cyndaquil and Dante you can continue on your journey. See you in a few days Rain. Oh and good luck on your journey Dante!"

"Bye professor." Dane and Rain chorused at the same time.

"You weren't headed back to New Bark were you?" Dante asked Rain as soon as the professor hung up.

"Ha, I guess you know me to well." Rain replied with a laugh. "No, I was planning on traveling with you, for a while at least. But then it occurred to me that Cyndaquil needs some more time away from people, and well, it would be a great opportunity to raise an egg. Plus, I can see you really wanted to get going anyway."

"Thanks Rain, you're a good friend. It would have been fun traveling with you."

"I wouldn't rule that out just yet." Rain said with a wink. "Battling gym leaders is going to take you some time. And, with your tendency of getting into trouble, I'll probably catch up in no time."

"I'll hold you to that then. Pick up a pokegear alright? I'll give you my number so that when you get one you'll have it."

"Fine." Rain rolled her eyes. "Catch you later Dante. Take care alright?"

"I always do."

Rain gave him another roll of her eyes, not even bothering to contradict that. After a moment she turned around and headed towards the exit out of town, stopping only to pick up Cyndaquil. Dante watched her go for a minute, before he turned around too and headed back to the Pokémon center.

…

**Sorry this is so short guys, but I couldn't find a better place to end the chapter. That and I've had some pretty bad writer's block lately and no motivation. I let Rain have Cyndaquil and the (eventually) Togepi because neither really fit into Dante's team well. So I figured I'd go for a change from the norm and give them to Rain instead. I'm going to try to keep up but with no reviews coming in I lose interest in writing this pretty quickly. So please try to review. Criticize it all you want, just please try to give some feedback**


	8. Chapter 7: Twin Battles:The Well and Bug

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, just in case you were wondering**

**Walkerb20: Thanks! Johto is my favorite of my favorite of the different regions**

**Pure Gamer: Don't worry about it, I just try to throw a reminder in every couple chapters if I don't get any reviews. Glad you like the story!**

Chapter 7: Twin Battles- The Well and the Bug

Dante would never listen to a tour guide again. After talking to Rain, Dante decided to stay the night at the Pokémon center. Just when he had begun down the path towards Azalea Town the next morning, a tour guide stopped and asked if he had heard of the wondrous Ruins of Alph. When Dante revealed that no, he hadn't the guide spared no detail. They were evidently the last remnants of an ancient civilization, and were the only place in Johto to catch a powerful Pokémon called Unknown. All of that sounded good enough for Dante, so he promptly turned around to take the long way to Azalea.

What the guide had failed to mention, was that the "last remnants" were a couple buildings with jigsaw puzzles in them. And all the puzzles did was drop you down to the hidden floor below. And worst of all, the supposedly powerful Unknown were extremely weak without combining their powers with a hundred others of their kind. After wasting a few hours at the ruins, Dante disgruntledly headed back down the road towards Union Cave.

The delay wouldn't have been that big of a deal, if it had just cost him an hour or two. But now he had gone too far to make use of the main road towards Azalea from Violet. Now Dante was stuck going the long way through Union Cave, which by all accounts was an annoying and worthless trip. Having now passed through most of it, Dante was in agreement. The trainers weren't too bad and provided a nice training challenge, but the wild Pokémon were just plain annoying. The Zubat weren't anywhere near as powerful as their evolved counterpart Dante had battled against the Rocket Grunt, but they were ten times as annoying. Thor was enjoying the chance to test out his new Thundershock attack, but after the fiftieth Zubat Dante had been about to tear his hair out. Even worse were the Geodude. There weren't quite as many of them as the Zubat, but unlike the Zubat, none of Dante's Pokémon held an advantage against them. So Dante and company eventually just decided to take off running every time they saw one.

Eventually the crew finally made their way to the end of the cave. After a quick check of the sun, Dante realized that his team had unknowingly walked through the night in the cave. In light of this, the group decided to lie down and take a nap for awhile.

"Vee, vee vee!" Dante was woken up by Shadow squealing and pawing at his face.

"What is it boy?" Dante asked in concern. By this time Thor and Vulcan had woken up as well, and were looking at Shadow curiously. Shadow turned around towards the end of the end of the road and motioned for the crew to look ahead. Sure enough up ahead there was a man and a Machop up ahead, and they appeared to be fighting.

"Shadow stop that Machop! Use headbutt!" Shadow nodded and took off toward the Machop and, before it could react, headbutted it in the stomach.

"Hey what's the big idea! Why did you attack my Pokémon you hooligan?" The person being attacked was a mountain of a man, at least six foot four and nearing two hundred-sixty pounds.

"Your Pokémon?" Dante asked in response. "I thought it was a wild Pokémon attacking you!"

"No! We were just training." The hiker said exasperatedly.

"How is beating up your Pokémon beating you up training?" Dante asked in astonishment.

"It was an even fight." The hiker said defensively. "Besides, what better way to train a fighting Pokémon then by fighting?"

"I guess. But doesn't the Trainer's Association frown on that?"

"Surprisingly not in some cases. Fighting Pokémon or those that utilize punching and kicks can be sparred under careful circumstances. But a Pokémon like a Sentret or you Eevee would not be allowed to spar you."

"Ok I guess that makes sense. But what does the sparring accomplish?"

"A lot of things actually." The hiker began. "For one it helps to keep yourself in top shape. Two, it helps the Pokémon work on basic brawling, instead of always relying on moves like Mach Punch or moves like it. And finally it helps build the relationship between trainer and Pokémon. It shows you're not afraid to go out and take some hits too. Because how can you ask your Pokémon to go out and get hurt but not be willing to do the same?"

"Wow, I never thought of it like that. I may just give that a try." Dante looked over Thor and Vulcan appraisingly, wondering if that training strategy would work with them. "We kind of missed introductions, my name's Dante."

"Anthony." The hiker introduced himself as he shook Dante's hand. "So what brings you this way to Azalea? Most people just take the road."

"A tour guide talked me into checking out the ruins. Not my best decision."

"Oh ya, those ruins are a huge waste of time. Did they get you there by telling you about the super rare Unknown?"

"That was the main selling point, ya." Dante said with a laugh. "They failed to mention they're only useful in battle if you have a hundred of them." They both had a good laugh about that for a bit, before Dante finally asked, "So why are you out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Well, I'm something of a cave enthusiast. I go all over through the countryside across the regions exploring them. Here I was going to catch two Pidgeys with one stone so to speak, and go through Union Cave and the Slowpoke Well as a bonus."

"Slowpoke Well? What's that?" Dante asked.

"Pretty much what its name says. It's a very large well that provides the water for Azalea and other local areas. The remarkable part of it is the large colony of Slowpoke that makes their home there. Unfortunately it's closed off right now for some reason, and the townsfolk are in a bit of an uproar over it.

"Huh, well that doesn't sound good." Dante mused. "So, how far is it from here?"

"Just down the road and about a mile before town."

"Ok, thanks. It was nice meeting you."

"Ya, maybe we'll run into each other again sometime."

"Maybe so." Dante turned towards his Pokémon. "Are you guys ready to go?"

All three of the Pokémon nodded. They still looked a little beat up from the cave, but the nap had helped them out quite a bit. They looked like they could at least make the last couple miles into town. After one last wave goodbye to Anthony and his Machop, the group turned and headed down the road.

The road to Azalea was much easier now than it had been through the cave. The group made much better time now, and soon enough they saw what had to be the entrance to the well. It had its own little path off to the side that circled around the ladder down, presumably to keep the path from being too steep. At the beginning of the path however, stood what appeared to be a security guard dressed in all black. Dante notice that he nervously grabbed a Pokéball at his belt when he saw the group walk up, before saying in his best serious voice, "This is a restricted area. The well is being closed for repairs."

"Whoa there dude." Dante put his hands up in a non-threatening manner. "I'm just walking through to get to town, no need to go bad cop on me."

"Well, yes, um, that's fine then." The guard put his arm down and visibly relaxed a bit. "Carry about with your business then."

"Thanks for the permission." Dante started to walk away, before turning back around and asking, "What are you guys fixing here anyway?"

"Um, well, it's a, uh, water contamination." The guard nervously answered.

'Are you sure? You seem a little confused." Dante replied with a raised eyebrow.

Evidently the guard didn't like to be questioned, because he answered, "Yes I'm sure you smart-mouthed punk! Now get the hell out of here before I kick your teeth in!"

"Fine, whatever you say, I'll get out of here." Dante and his Pokémon turned around and headed back down the road. Once they were out of the guard's earshot Dante said, "There's something going on there guys. We need to check in on it once we get to town." The Pokémon all nodded in response, trusting Dante's instincts to be right.

Within a half hour the group made their way into town. A fairly large crowd of around fifty people were gathered around the front of the Pokémon Center, all screaming and shouting about something. Finally the man in front managed to get them to quiet down. He was an older guy, looking to be about in his early sixties.

"Quiet everyone!" He called out. "My Slowbro just got back from scouting out the well. Being a fairly strong psychic Pokémon, it can somewhat communicate with its mind. From that, I've unfortunately gathered that it is Team Rocket who has closed off the well. They're using the well as a base to cut off the Slowpokes tails to sell." The crowd erupted at this once again and this time the old man couldn't calm them down.

"We should wait for Bugsy to get back to take them down!" One person called out.

"We should all charge down the well and take them ourselves!" Another one said.

Finally they all calmed down enough for the old man to get back into the conversation. "I have a plan everyone. Since Bugsy is away for a Gym Leader meeting, I'll go down the well and drive Team Rocket off."

"Uh Kurt?" One person cut in. "No offense here, but aren't you getting a little old to go busting down wells to take out gangs?"

"Bah, age is only a number." The man apparently called Kurt responded. "I could still take any of you whippersnappers down with ease."

"Will you at least let me go as backup? I've got a Gym badge and fought Team Rocket before so I know what I'm doing." Dante finally spoke up.

"Hmm, I don't think I've seen you around." Kurt said while rubbing his beard. "Tell you what, if I'm not back in two hours, come down and back me up."

"Alright, my Pokémon could use a bit of a rest anyway." Dante normally would have forced the issue, but he could tell the older man was determined to prove to himself he was still capable of protecting his town.

Once the man had left Dante asked the crowd, "So is that guy the mayor or something?"

"Kind of." A little girl in the crowd answered. "We don't really have a mayor. My grandpa helped found the town and get a gym for us, so everyone asks him for advice when things go bad. And he's pretty famous for making homemade Pokéballs out of Apricorns."

"He's that Kurt?" Dante asked in astonishment. Dante had in fact heard of him before, he just hadn't put together. According to most sources, Kurt could make Pokéballs from Apricorns that had unique effects.

"Yup." Kurt's granddaughter answered happily. "He's really good at it too. People come from all over to get his balls."

"Huh, I would guess so." Dante said, barely holding in his laughter from the little girl's wording. Dante mingled with the locals for awhile, learning that the Slowpoke were revered in the town for one day supposedly ending a drought. That made the crime of cutting off their tails even more repulsive to them. The Pokémon would regrow them, but it would be a very painful process for them.

Soon enough, the two hours were up and the villagers were very concerned, especially Kurt's granddaughter. Dante promised them all he'd take care of everything, before heading off towards the well. This time Dante made sure to sneak up to the well's entrance, but it was unnecessary, as the guard had left his post.

The climb down the well wasn't too long, but Dante had to go slow so as to not alert anyone. What he saw when he reached the bottom surprised him though. Kurt was laying on the ground face-up, while his Slowbro was off to the side, slightly glowing. Dante was shocked as to why he would be glowing until he saw the original guard from outside leaned against the wall and also slightly glowing. He was struggling against an unseen force, and apparently making no headway.

"Hey what's-your-name! I was waiting for you to show up." Kurt yelled out gruffly.

"What's going on here Kurt? And my name is Dante by the way."

"Well you see," Kurt began a little embarrassed. "I managed to kick the guard's ass right down the well. But once I got to the bottom, I slipped and threw out my back. Fortunately before the guard could get his payback, my Slowbro jumped out of his ball and held him up with Psychic. I'm safe, but Slowbro can only hold him there for so long."

"I can take care of that." Dante said as he calmly walked over to the guard. The guard gave him a dark look, before Dante said, "You really shouldn't have been so rude to me." Dante drew his fist back, and smoothly knocked out the guard with a quick punch to the head. "You know," Dante began, "I really don't agree with hitting defenseless people-even Rockets. But I couldn't let him have a chance to run away or yell to warn his pals." 

"You did what you had to kid." Kurt reassured him. "What are you going to do with him?"

"Well, let me check his security pack and see if he has any rope or handcuffs." Sure enough, a quick look through the pack revealed rope, handcuffs, and a gag. After using all three and dropping him off behind a rock, Dante turned back to Kurt. "So, do you want me to bring you back to town first?" Dante asked concernedly.

"No, that would waste too much time. They'll come looking for this guy soon. You have to hurry and do something. Although, Slowbro says he can sense at least ten of them in there, and most of them with Pokémon."

"I can't take that many down." Dante said in disappointment. Suddenly, he got hit with an idea. "How many Slowpoke are here Kurt?"

"Slowbro says about sixty or so. Why?"

"Why aren't they fighting back?"

"Well, Slowpoke are usually so easy going they need someone to push them into action. Usually they have a Slowbro leader, but evidently one hasn't evolved since I caught mine."

"Why don't you have him get them to attack telepathically?"

"He could, but without being there physically they wouldn't completely follow him."

"What if he alerted them, but I had one of my Pokémon lead them?"

"I guess that might work." Kurt said thoughtfully. "It would have to be one with quite a bit of focus to lead them though. And it would need to be stealthy enough to sneak by, and swim to some of the more remote areas."

"Well, I only have one Pokémon that fits all that criteria." Dante let out all three of his Pokémon, and they all quickly stood at the ready. "Ok guys, this is the plan. Shadow, I need you to sneak through the cave and rally all the Slowpoke to drive the Rockets off. Slowbro will warn them ahead of time and direct you to them. Thor, Vulcan you're with me. We need to distract Team Rocket long enough for Shadow to organize it all. That means we need to switch between Flash and Smokescreen. We're going to alternate them in thirty second intervals. While you do that, I'll try to take some of them down while they can't see." All three Pokémon nodded, and Shadow silently received his first directions from Slowbro. After Shadow gave another quick nod, the group crept down the hallway while watching for a patrol.

The group eventually made their way to the main chamber. Fortunately, they were not seen because the well was mostly dark, with the only sources of light being a handful of torches Team Rocket had set up in their work area. The Vulcan, Thor, and Dante all spread out to the outer edges of the chamber just out of sight, while Shadow swam off in the underground pond looking for Slowpoke. Thor waited thirty seconds, before checking to see if Dante had his eyes covered. Once he did, Thor let out a quick yell before letting out a blinding light that stunned all the Rockets. It was made even more effective by the dimness of the cavern. As the Rockets were all yelling in dismay, Vulcan began letting out a thick stream of smoke from his mouth, and soon enough the entire room was filled with black smoke.

Dante took the opportunity to cover his mouth, and trip up a few of the grunts throughout the room. Unfortunately, one took the opportunity to throw out a Pokéball. From it, a Golbat, Dante's least favorite Pokémon. The Golbat at least had the sense to use a quick gust in the room to blow the smoke away. Once the smoke was gone, Dante noticed that the trainer who had it seemed to be dressed in a more ceremonial outfit, evidently he was the leader of the group.

"Quick! Get them!" The commander ordered.

"Yes sir Commander Proton!" The grunts all yelled out. Immediately they released their Pokémon, all of them Zubat. Thor took advantage of the momentary lapse in the struggle to use another Flash, once again blinding the room, this time Dante included. Dante rolled to his side as quick as he could, but he heard the Zubat prepare to attack. He had forgotten that Zubat saw by using sonar waves, and not by sight. An idea came to him quickly, and he grabbed a whistle around his neck he had bought in Violet City earlier for training. He had abandoned the idea of using it soon after, but hadn't yet taken the time to remove it. The piercing note let out from the whistle stunned the Zubat, who also relied heavily on their sensitive hearing to find victims. His vision came back just in time to see Thor blast a handful of the newly stunned Zubat, but didn't fail to notice that Thor was extremely tired from the quick use of so many thundershocks, having not quite mastered the move yet. Just as the rest of the Zubats swooped in to attack Thor, Dante recalled him to spare him the pain of the attack.

Vulcan took their momentary distraction to launch an ember attack at the Golbat, but it nimbly dodged it and used a quick take down that rendered Vulcan unconscious. Dante returned him, before backing up slowly against the wall. The entire rest of the group had circled around him, and returned all their Pokémon, but had angry looks on their faces. There was definitely no way out.

"Would you like to tell me exactly why you are intruding on our operation down here kid?" The leader asked as he stepped forward.

"Well you see, there's a funny story there." Dante replied as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, not so funny. I don't particularly agree with your goals and methods, and don't like the way you treat Pokémon. So, I've made it my personal mission to stop you guys wherever I can."

"I see." Proton replied. "You do realize these tails grow back, and that these are just Slowpoke right?"

"That doesn't matter." Dante countered. "It still hurts them and all Pokémon deserve respect. Besides, the last one of your members I faced didn't care that I was a human when he tried to kill me."

"You don't mean our agent by Goldenrod?" Proton asked in surprise. "That must have been some feat. You'll be happy to know we broke him out in just two days. And for putting him away and presumably giving us away here, I'll finish his job. Golbat, take him out, Air Slash!"

For the second time in his life Dante saw his life flash before his eyes and prepared to die. The Golbat was too fast, and he could never dodge the attack aimed at his throat in time. Just before the Golbat could launch the razor sharp wall of air at him, a dark wave bowled over the Golbat and surrounding grunts. Only Proton had managed to keep on his feet, but soon looked on in shock. At the edge of the pond stood Shadow, a proud smirk on his face, but looking drained by the Hidden Power move. Next to him stood no less than sixty Slowpoke, all of whom began launching water gun attacks. The grunts were all blasted out of the way, but Proton managed to dodge them as he returned the Golbat.

He quickly released another Pokémon and ordered, "Weezing, use Smokescreen!" The purple floating blob of a Pokémon responded immediately, and released an almost unbelievable amount of gas into the chamber, leaving nothing visible. The Slowpoke quickly combined their psychic abilities to clear the smoke, but by the time the smoke cleared, all Dante could do was catch a glimpse of Proton as he ran to a back entrance that Team Rocket must have found when they first explored the chamber. At that moment, a large group of the townsfolk came rushing in, with Kurt being supported by one of the local villagers.

"Dante, you did it!" Kurt shouted out. "Your plan was brilliant, Team Rocket didn't know what hit them."

Dante ignored him for the moment though, and instead walked across the room to where Shadow was. "Thanks buddy; you really bailed me out back there." Dante murmured as he picked Shadow up.

"Vee." Shadow responded modestly, acting as if it wasn't a big deal.

…..

The next few days were pretty uneventful for Dante and his team. The locals helped tie up and subdue all the Rocket grunts. The Goldenrod police force was finally called in and sent out a task force after Proton, but Dante knew they wouldn't catch him-the trail was too cold by that point. Dante had not gone without reward though. Kurt had been so grateful for his help that he had given Dante two of his famous Pokéballs. One was a Heavy Ball, which Kurt said would capture heavier Pokémon easier. The other was a Friend Ball, which supposedly made any Pokémon it captured friendlier.

Unfortunately for Dante, the gym leader Bugsy was out of town for a gym leader meeting, which was why he didn't help out at the well. With some time to kill, Dante explored the town checking to see if anybody needed help. As it turned out, the local charcoal company did. Apparently one of their assistants had been unable to control the company Farfetch'd and had lost it. Dante agreed to get it back, but wasn't prepared for what he had gotten into. For hours he and Shadow hunted down the tricky bird Pokémon but couldn't get close enough to catch it. Finally Dante got the idea to use Shadow to herd the Farfetch'd back towards town. This worked to great effect and even ended up saving the assistant's job. To thank him the assistant gave him a special chunk of charcoal that was said to increase the fire attacks of whatever Pokémon held it, and a retractable machete specially made for cutting through the thickest brush.

After thanking the assistant for his gifts Dante headed back towards the Pokémon center to get some training in. Upon arriving though the nurse informed him that Bugsy had gotten back while he was helping out the man with the charcoal assistant. Having heard of how Dante saved the town Slowpoke in his absence Bugsy had cleared out a battle appointment for him the next day. That brightened up Dante's day considerably and he began a quick training session.

He didn't want to have too difficult a session on the day before a battle so he kept it down to just practicing some moves. Shadow was beginning to run out of moves he could learn while as an Eevee, but was gradually getting his Hidden Power move under control. Thor and Vulcan however were barely scratching the surface of what they could learn. Thor was making great use of his new Thundershock attack, and already had it under control. Vulcan on the other hand didn't know any moves besides Mach Punch, Ember and smokescreen. While Dante was happy it knew Ember, he tried to get it to learn Firepunch to take advantage of its higher physical attack power. Unfortunately Vulcan was having trouble learning to let the fire out through his fist rather than out his mouth. Having learned that Bugsy was, unsurprisingly, a Bug-type leader, this weakness worried Dante a bit.

But Dante didn't let it show how much that worried him to Vulcan, as he didn't want to disappoint him. After the training session Dante headed back to the Pokémon center and got an early night's sleep. The next day they headed out to the entrance of the next gym. Unlike the Violet City Gym, the Azalea Gym wasn't an actual building. Instead, it had an arch showing the entrance to a separate path of the Ilex Forest. The path itself was an overgrown mess; for the first time Dante got to make use of his new machete. Bugsy had also left a few trainers along the path as well. None of them were particularly tough; they all used either weak Caterpie, or Ledyba that Thor was strong against. Thor took them all out, but the combined damage from all the battles left Thor in no condition for the gym battle.

Finally, Dante made it to the end of the path and entered into a large clearing that seemed almost specially for battling; which evidently it was. At the center of the clearing sat a young boy who appeared to be no older than about fourteen or so, with lavender hair and a large net in his hand. As he stood up, Dante noted that he was at least a foot shorter than him.

"Hey, you must be Dante!" The young gym leader called out. "Thanks for taking care of Team Rocket while I was gone; it was really brave of you."

"No problem." Dante replied. "Aren't you a little young to be a gym leader though?"

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm one of the leading authorities in the region on bug Pokémon."

"Alright, I'm sorry for offending you, no harm meant." Dante said as he put his hands up calmingly.

"Well, ok then, apology accepted. But to get on with our business, the rules are simple. Each person can use two Pokémon, with no switching out in the middle of a battle. First one to have both Pokémon knocked out loses."

"Sounds good to me. Shadow you're up!" Shadow leapt from Dante's side and let out it's signature cry of "Vee!"

"Alright then, Metapod you're up!" As he said this Bugsy took out a Pokéball, from out of which came the green cocoon Pokémon.

Dante promptly did a facepalm upon seeing his challenge. Did every gym start out with a weak Pokémon? Having learned from his last battle though, Dante resolved to end this battle more efficiently so that Shadow would be of some use against the next undoubtedly stronger Pokémon. "Shadow, use Takedown and finish this quick!" Shadow charged forward at a reckless pace, ready to take the Metapod out in one blow, until….

"Metapod use Harden!" After a brief moment the Metapod took on a shiny metallic hue, and Shadow bounced right off it like it was a rock. Shadow took a few moments to clear it's head but was having a bit of difficulty. Bugsy took advantage of the situation quickly though, ordering "Alright use Tackle now!" To Dante and Shadow's amazement the cocoon launched itself forward into Shadow, knocking it off its feet.

"How did it do that?" Dante asked in astonishment. "I thought Metapod couldn't move?" 

"As it turns out, with the right training they can." Bugsy replied smugly.

"Ok then, try Bodyslam Shadow." Dante said, but made sure Shadow saw his wink before he took off.

"Ha, I guess we can try this again." Bugsy laughed. "Use Harden again Metapod." Shadow charged and looked like it was going to slam Metapod again, but at the last second it stopped right in front of the Metapod.

"Use Tail whip Shadow, then use Takedown again!" Shadow nodded and turned around quickly so that its tail was in Metapod's face, causing it to lose control of its Harden. Before it could gain control again, Shadow slammed into it again, this time knocking it out.

"Wow, that was pretty good!" Bugsy said as he recalled the Metapod, his tone indicating just how impressed he was. "That's the flaw with a Pokémon like Metapod; it just doesn't have the speed to counter attack combos like that. This next Pokémon doesn't though, go Scyther!" Out from his next Pokéball came a giant mantis-like Pokémon with a reptilian head. Dante had heard about this Pokémon before, and knew that its strengths were its speed and shard blades on its forearms. "Alright Scyther, use Quick Attack!" The bug immediately complied and had run into Shadow in the blink of an eye.

"Alright Shadow, use quick attack too!" Shadow shot towards the Scyther once it had recovered and managed to land a grazing hit on it, but unfortunately the Scyther dodged the majority of the hit.

"Scyther use Double Team!" Now the Scyther suddenly made another twenty copies of itself, all of them speeding over the place. Occasionally the real one landed a hit on Shadow, but moved out of the way before Shadow could retaliate.

Dante froze for a minute, knowing that he had to get a big hit on the Scyther to slow it down a bit, but not wanting to use Shadow's big move right away. Finally after seeing it get hit once again, Dante made his decision. "Ok Shadow, use Hidden Power but spread it out on all sides of you!" Shadow nodded and began to glow, and let out a wave of dark energy from all around him. That training from the other day had helped out after all. Now Shadow could use either a concentrated blast for maximum damage or a wave from all sides that was nearly impossible to dodge. Immediately upon impact the ofake Scyther vanished, with the real one getting blasted into a tree. Shadow had put a little too much into the blast though, and promptly fainted upon completing the attack. Scyther had no such problem however, and got back up after a few moments, although it looked shaken up from the blast.

"Wow that was pretty big, good thing Scyther wasn't hit by all of that. Who's you're next Pokémon?" Bugsy asked, eager to see his final challenger.

"Vulcan, it's up to you buddy!" Vulcan left his Pokéball already in a fighting stance, eager to take on a worthy challenge. "Start off with Ember!" Vulcan obliged and shot out several little fireballs out at the Scyther, looking to do heavy damage.

"Dodge and use Fury Cutter!" Bugsy yelled out. Scyther managed to follow the order, and managed to land a blow to Vulcan, but because of the type disadvantage barely phased it.

"Try Mach punch now that it's close Vulcan!" Vulcan obeyed and launched a quick punch at Scyther, but afterwards the bug looked barely affected.

"Ha, you don't seem to realize that Scyther is part flying, therefor fighting moves don't hurt it. Now use Fury Cutter again!" Scyther once again managed to land a blow, but this time it seemed to do a little bit more damage. "Even though Fury Cutter isn't effective against fire types, it builds up more power each time it hits."

"Uh oh." Dante said. "Try Ember again it's our only shot!" Vulcan shot more of the fireballs out, but once again Scyther dodged and used Fury Cutter. Now it was beginning to do some damage and Vulcan was looking weary. "Alright pal, if you got a plan now's the time to use it." Vulcan concentrated for a moment, but suddenly turned around and gave Dante a wink. Then it once again launched another ember barrage, but this time it subtly put one of its arms behind its back. Scyther dodged them all once again, but this time as it came in for a Fury Cutter attack Vulcan looked ready. Just before Scyther reached it, Vulcan's fist was bathed in fire, and Scyther was decked right in the face with it. Unable to withstand the super-effective Firepunch attack, Scyther collapsed on the spot.

"Wow." Was all Bugsy could manage at first. "I guess I should have realized you would have a different move, but I didn't think a Pokémon at that level could learn Firepunch."

"If it makes you feel any better it was his first time using it." Dante said as he ran up to Vulcan for a high five.

"I can't say that it does." Bugsy said with a small laugh. "But a battle's a battle, so here is your reward; some cash and the Hivebadge." Dante accepted his prize and shook Bugsy's hand. The two chatted for a bit, before Dante finally headed back to the Pokémon center, eager to get some rest and an early start the next day.

…

While Dante was winning his gym battle however, a young woman once more set foot in Violet City. This time she was carrying a Pokémon egg from an unknown Pokémon, a Marill, and a Cyndaquil that was gradually getting less timid of the world around it.

Also at the same time, a red haired young man was climbing out of the Union Cave, with a team of more bloodthirsty and trained Pokémon at his command. After demolishing a nearby cave enthusiast in a battle, the young man headed into a nearby well to check for activity from a certain gang….

…**..**

**Well, that's it for this chapter; I think it's my longest yet. If you've played the games it's pretty obvious what happens next**. **Another battle for the ages with Zane and maybe even another Rain sighting. Make sure to review, whether you liked it or not. It really helps motivate me to get the next chapter out sooner.**


	9. Chapter 8: Rivalry Renewed

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, or much of anything else.**

Chapter Eight: Rivalry Reignited

It had been a boring couple of days for Dante after his victory against Bugsy. It had taken an entire day for his team's injuries to heal after the fast-paced gym battle. This left Dante with virtually nothing to do, having already explored the town while waiting for Bugsy the previous couple of days. Then on the next day when his Pokémon were finally healed a storm blew in, forcing him to delay his journey into Ilex Forest another day. The next morning though was clear and bright, and Dante and team finally started on the next stage of their journey. Just as they started to make their way out of town, a loud voice interrupted them.

"Hey, you there! Hold up!" The voice shouted. Dante turned around, only to see his nemesis Zane walking towards him.

"Zane? What do you want?" Dante responded with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Zane was about the last person he wanted to see.

"Wait a second." Zane said slowly in disbelief. "Don't tell me _you're_ the Dante all these villagers have been talking about. The one that took out the Team Rocket group at the Slowpoke Well?"

"That would be me, yes. But then again you would have known that if you'd bothered to get my name the last few times you've been bugging me." Dante replied exasperatedly.

Zane let out a laugh at that. "Ha! Why would I want to know the name of a weakling like you.? And here I thought a battle against this 'hero'", he put an extra emphasis on "hero" while making air quotes with his fingers, "would be worth my time."

"That's pretty funny." Dante said, a challenging tone entering his voice. "The last time we battled I beat all three of your Pokémon with only one of mine. If I'm a weakling what does that make you?"

"That was a fluke!" Zane yelled back. After taking a moment to calm down, he spoke again, "Well why don't you try it again if you're so tough? I promise I'll drive you into the dust this time."

"Fine then, I'll even choose first so you'll have the advantage." Dante said grimly, looking forward to showing Zane the error of his training ways. "Let's go Shadow!"

"Somehow I'm not surprised you're leading with this one again. I've got the perfect counter to him now though. Go Gastly!" Zane threw out a Pokéball, and in a flash of light a purple ball of gas appeared. In the darker center of the ball though, were two eyes and a mouth with a row of teeth. The entire effect made for a very malevolent look.

Dante's eyes bulged at this new Pokémon, but then narrowed in concentration. Zane obviously thought this would work in his favor due to normal type moves not working against ghost types. But he had overlooked, or did not know, that ghost type moves wouldn't work against normal types either. But with Shadow's hidden power being Dark type, if he just let the Ghastly get in close enough…..

"I can tell you realize your predicament." Zane said with a laugh, mistaking Dante's silence for fear. "Since none of your moves will work, I'll just start it off. Ghastly use Lick!" The ball of gas smiled, and then sped over to Shadow, and then extended its huge tongue towards the little fox.

"Just stay still Shadow!" Dante called out. Shadow glanced back at him nervously but stayed rooted to the spot, trusting that Dante knew what he was doing. Sure enough, the tongue passed right through Shadow, eliciting shocked looks on both the Ghastly's and Zane's faces.

"Alright Shadow, now use Hidden Power! Keep it concentrated though, just like we've been practicing." Shadow nodded and was cloaked in dark energy for a second before unleashing it all in a beam point blank at Ghastly. The ball of gas didn't stand a chance, and promptly fainted at Zane's feet.

"What the hell just happened?!" Zane yelled out in shock.

"It's simple," Dante replied with disdain, "Normal moves may not work against Ghost types, but Ghost moves don't work against Normal types either. And Shadow's Hidden Power move type is Dark, which is super-effective against Ghost. I don't know how you forgot that part, considering how bad that move beat you last time."

"You didn't have a name for that move last time, you just pulled it out of your ass. It doesn't matter though, Ghastly was my second weakest Pokémon. I assume this match will be three on three since you only have three Pokéballs on your belt, so I'll just use my three strongest. Not that I'll need them for a weakling like you. Go Bayleef!" Next up came a large green dinosaur looking Pokémon that was obviously the evolved form of the Chikorita Zane stole. This time though it had a much fiercer look on its face, no doubt due to Zane's harsh training practices.

"I see you've lightened up on your Pokémon since the last time."

"Ha, spoken like a true weakling. You sound like that girl who picked up that weak Cyndaquil I ditched."

"Girl who did what? You mean Rain?" Dante asked incredulously.

Zane looked a little shocked for a moment, before shaking his head and laughing. "Of course you would know her. I guess weaklings really do run in packs. She was a shitty battler though, even worse than you. I beat my old Cyndaquil with Bayleef and her Marill with my Zubat."

"You talk an awful lot for someone who has yet to ever knock out one of my Pokémon in a battle." Dante shot back, growing more enraged at every word Zane said.

"I'm going to fix that now." Zane snarled back. "Bayleef, use Razor Leaf!" Bayleef wasted no time, and started whipping a barrage of leaves at Shadow. Shadow hadn't been ready for the attack, and was subsequently knocked back several feet.

"Shadow are you O.K.?" Shadow got to his feet but looked a little worse for the wear. Still, he nodded in determination, ready to take on the challenger. "Alright then, let's try using Take Down!" Shadow tensed up and rammed recklessly into Bayleef, mustering all the force it could into the attack. Both Pokémon managed to get up, and although Bayleef looked like it took a pretty significant portion of damage, Shadow was looking even closer to fainting.

"Tough attack for a weakling, but it's not good enough to take out Bayleef this time. Finish it off with Vine Whip!" Bayleef gave a nod of understanding, and suddenly extended two vines from the seeds positioned in a ring around its neck. Shadow didn't even have time to react before the vines had picked him up and violently slammed him into the ground. This time Shadow couldn't muster the strength to get up, and Dante reluctantly returned him.

"You did good Shadow, take a rest. Let's see what you got Vulcan!" Dante's Magby came out next, with a look of determination at the much larger Pokémon.

"So, you want to try to cheat by using type advantage huh? Typical wimp move."

"You just tried using Ghastly against Shadow because Normal moves wouldn't work against it." Dante deadpanned. "How is that any different?"

"I, well, uh.." Zane sputtered out in confusion. "That's different! I obviously knew Ghost moves didn't work either. I just wanted a better challenge!"

"So you just wanted us to stand around doing nothing then? And why did you attack with a Ghost move if you knew it wouldn't work?" Dante responded, shocked at the level of self-delusion Zane was operating under. "You know what, never mind." Dante cut off Zane before he could think of a reply. "Whatever you need to tell yourself to keep your self-esteem."

"Why you," Zane stuttered again, "How dare you! I'll show you, Bayleef, use synthesis!" Bayleef ran over to stand in the direct sunlight, and began to glow with a green energy. After a few moments it stopped, with all of its wounds from the earlier Take Down healed.

'_It can heal itself?' _Dante thought to himself. '_That's not good. I need to knock it out quick then._'

"Alright, try Ember then Vulcan!" Vulcan began belching out small fireballs at Bayleef, who wasn't quite quick enough to dodge them all. Luck was in Dante's favor too, because Bayleef was sporting a rather large burn afterwards. Not enough to knock it out, but definitely good enough to slow it down.

"Oh yeah? Well how about another synthesis!" Once again Bayleef started to move into the sunlight and glow.

"Quick, use Mach Punch Vulcan!" Vulcan sprinted off towards Bayleef and gave it an uppercut right to the face, instantly interrupting the synthesis. The interruption was just in time too, leaving Bayleef looking like it had a little less health than before it had begun to use the move.

"Damn! Try your Take Down while it's so close." Bayleef charged forward recklessly, just like Shadow had earlier. Fortunately for Vulcan it was only a couple yards away and couldn't muster enough force to knock it out. He still went flying back a full eight yards due to Bayleef's greater size though.

"Are you alright Vulcan?" Dante asked in concern. Vulcan nodded, but it was clear that he didn't have much left in the tank.

"One more time Bayleef, finish it!" Zane didn't give either of them time to prepare, and gleefully watched as Bayleef charged. Dante scrambled for an idea, knowing that Vulcan was too tired to dodge. He finally came up with a plan, but he didn't have enough time to relay the plan to Vulcan. Amazingly though Vulcan responded anyway and charged forward towards Bayleef with a flaming fist. The Firepunch and Take Down both collided, throwing both Pokémon back several feet. After the dust cleared, both tried to get up, but Bayleef collapsed after going to its knees. Vulcan though managed to stand up and give a thumbs-up, a crooked smile adorning his face. It didn't last though, and he collapsed straight backwards, smile still on his face.

"You weak Pokémon!" Zane sneered in disgust. "Oh well, Croconaw! Finish them off!" Zane's final Pokémon was a blue bipedal crocodile like creature. If Bayleef had looked aggressive, then Croconaw looked downright ferocious. Its face was etched in a snarl that would have made Jacen's Salamence envious.

"Now that's a face not even a mother could love." Dante quipped.

"Are you kidding? I love his rage, it makes him strong. He's much stronger than any of your weak Pokémon."

"Alright I stand corrected. That's a face only a psychopath could love."

"Humph, whatever. Just send out your last victim already." Zane replied, not looking upset at the psychopath insult at all.

"Alright then, show em' what your made of Thor!" Dante's final Pokémon, his Elekid, formed out of the light released from the Pokéball. Electricity was already crackling around his body in anticipation of the battle.

"Another type advantage eh? That's fine, Croconaw will have no problem anyway. Use Rage!" Croconaw let out a deep growl, and his eyes started to glow red. Then, after working itself into a fury, it charged towards Thor, barely giving it anytime to react. Fortunately for Thor, the increased bulk of the Croconaw slowed it down just enough to where Thor could dodge the blows it tried to rain down upon it, although it couldn't manage a counter attack. The stalemate was broken by Croconaw, who caught Thor off guard by using his tail instead of his claws, sending Thor flying into a tree.

"Thor, are you alright?" Dante asked concernedly. Thor unsteadily got back on his feet and nodded, not willing to concede just yet. "Great, then let's use Thundershock before its Rage wears off." Thor tensed up, and then unleashed a barrage of miniature lightning into Croconaw. The attack floored Croconaw, but it managed to crawl back on its feet angrier than ever.

"Show that weakling some real pain!" Zane yelled in anger. "Bite its arm off!" Croconaw wasted no time in obeying, and clamped down on Thor's arm, eliciting a scream of pain from the Elekid.

"No, Thor!" Dante cried out in distress. He readied himself to return Thor and forfeit, not willing to risk its arm for a match. But then he made eye contact with Thor, and saw the determination and trust in its eyes. It wouldn't forgive him if he gave up now, and it was counting on him to come up with a match-changing move. Suddenly Dante had it. "Use Spark Thor! Put every ounce of power you got into him!"

"What? No! Croconaw, let go of it, quick!" But Zane's orders weren't quite fast enough, and it was unable to remove its jaws before Thor began pumping it full of electricity. It was now a battle of wills to see who could last longer without fainting. Simultaneously the electricity stopped and the crocodile Pokémon released its jaws. The two stared at each other for a few moments, before Croconaw's eyes rolled over and it collapsed onto the ground in a heap. Thor let out a cry of victory and then sat back onto the ground, utterly exhausted.

"Good job buddy!" Dante praised as he returned Thor to his Pokéball. "Take a good long rest."

"What a lucky weakling." Zane snorted as he returned his Croconaw. "You only won because you used type advantage like a crutch. I'd have wiped the floor with you otherwise."

"They call that using your Pokémon to the best of their abilities." Dante retorted. "Not that you care about that. All you want is a pack of bloodthirsty maniacs."

"All I want is strong Pokémon. Any others are just worthless. And next time we battle I'll make you understand that." Zane didn't even give Dante a chance to respond, and stormed off into the forest in a huff. Dante just shook his head, before turning around towards the Pokémon Center, knowing that another day wasted in the town waiting for his Pokémon to heal awaited.

…

Four hours later, Dante was cursing Zane with every fiber of his being. He had already been going mad from waiting for his Pokémon to heal after his battle with Bugsy. After four days of waiting around town since defeating Team Rocket at the Well, he would now have to add another day to that. Dante just started to drift off in his chair, until suddenly a hand clamped down on his shoulder, causing him to fall out of his chair in surprise.

"Nice to see you too Dante." His friend Rain said, a devilish grin gracing her face.

"Why do you always have to scare me to death every time you wake me up?!" Dante yelled in response, trying to catch his breath with his hand over his pounding heart.

"Because waking you up gently wouldn't be any fun at all, duh." Rain said as if the answer was obvious. "Besides, you should be happy! I didn't have Marill wake you up with a Water Gun. I thought the Pokémon Center would be a little less happy about that than your mom was."

"Glad that's stopping you now." Dante grumbled.

"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud! What are you doing in here anyway? Did the Gym Leader beat you up?"

"As a matter of fact no, I beat him on my first try. And a Team Rocket group based in Slowpoke Well. And just a few hours ago, Zane, which is why I'm healing here now."

"What?! You did all of that? And how did you beat Zane, he was so tough when he battled me?! Well, he was a complete jerk too," Rain added as an afterthought, "but he was a pretty good battler."

"Not good enough evidently. If he had any trust with his Pokémon at all he might have beaten me though."

"Well how about some details then if it went so well?" So Dante then went into a lengthy explanation of all his adventures since he last saw Rain back in Violet City, although he did leave out the part where Team Rocket had him cornered and almost killed.. He didn't want to worry her after all.

"And then Zane just stormed off into Ilex Forest." Dante concluded.

"Wow, so you've been really busy since the last time I saw you." Rain added, actually sounding impressed with his tale. "So what are you going to do now Mr. Big-shot Hero?"

"I guess I'm going to head through Ilex and into Goldenrod after my Pokémon heal up. What about you?"

"Well, I was just going to take the main road into Goldenrod; it's a lot faster than going through the forest. Is there any reason you want to go into Ilex?"

"It's kind of a rite of passage for a really serious trainer. It's usually about a week long trip through there. They say it's the first place on the road to being Champion where the bonds between trainer and Pokémon are really tested. Nearly fifty percent of aspiring trainers quit after their first try through there. I guess I just want to prove to myself I can."

"In that case, count me in!" Rain said enthusiastically.

"What? Why in Arceus' name would you want to do that? Didn't you hear everything I just said about the place?"

"Of course I did. But since I'm staying at my grandparents' outside of Goldenrod, this will be our last chance to travel together. Besides, I'm sure you could use my help." 

"Oh? And what makes you think you won't just slow me down?" Dante replied, his face deadly serious, giving away nothing.

"What!? What do you mean slow you down!? I spent a lot of time back in the woods at home too Dante! Where do you get off thinking you're so much better than me!?" Rain shouted out at Dante in rage.

"Gotcha." Dante said while breaking out in laughter, unable to hold it in anymore.

"Why would you say that?! I really thought you were going to go without me." Rain whined in relief and a little bit of despair.

"Because, you insist on scaring me, usually by Water Gun, every time you wake me up. I figured that gives me the right to mess with you now and then. Besides," he added with a grin, "it's entirely too easy to get you riled up." Rain's only response to that was a smack to the face, which only had the effect of making Dante laughing even more. Soon Rain couldn't help it either, and broke out into laughter as well. It was good that they were laughing then, because in the next few days laughter was going to be hard to find.

…

**Authors Note: Well I'm finally back. It's been a long time. I'm not the type for excuses, but the only explanation I give is that I had a perfect storm of issues to slow me down. From a bad case of writer's block, to being extremely busy with school and work, and finally just not having much enthusiasm for it. But I finally have the rest of this story in mind a lot better, and it's only some smaller plot details I have to work out now. I am looking for a beta reader though to look through the chapters before I release them, and give me some thoughts on plot details, possible plot holes, sentence structure, dialogue, and grammar and spelling. I'll be on vacation for the next few days here though, so I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to respond to anyone, or even when I'm going to start the next chapter. But I will say though, that in the next chapter we'll have an eventful journey through Ilex, and possibly a new teammate in Goldenrod. Oh and as always, please review. Praise, criticism, hell even some good old fashioned flaming would be fine! If you feel like it that is. No big deal if you don't.**


End file.
